Corn Fields and Coral Reefs
by The-Lost-Ninjas
Summary: What happens when a highly depressed Iruka gets tutored by Kakashi? Well...if hormones are running wild and...yeah you get this fic Yaoi pairings: IrukaxKakashi and a little GemmaHayate...rated R but there are few actual bad things in here...yet...
1. Default Chapter

Corn Fields and Coral Reefs  
  
Summary: Iruka's life sucks. He's had no one since his parents died, or has he? What happens when he is tutored by a young genius? Well, when that young genius is Hatake Kakashi… a lot of things can happen. Though with teenage hormones and a need to be acknowledged by someone… well you get this fan fic.   
  
Warnings: Yoai, (no like no read, you've been warned, don't blame us)  
  
Parings: Iruka x Kakashi (Just cuss we like them so damn much)  
  
Disclaimers: Don't own anything at all (if we did, why would we be writing?)  
  
NA: We turned the clocks back about 9 years okay, just so you don't get confused  
  
Chapter #1  
  
Iruka fidgeted in his chair, he was in trouble again. That was no surprise, however, seeing he was the class clown. What did you expect form a fifteen year-old craving attention? But it wasn't his latest antics that had him sitting before his instructor. No, it was his grades.  
  
He twiddled his thumbs in annoyance, and glanced out the window, where the children from his class were already outside playing after a hard day at school. The room was slightly dark, with long lines of light spreading lazily out of the windows and stretching across the room. He watched as several children were picked up by their parents and sighed, before the instructor walked in and he was forced to look over at him instead.   
  
The instructor looked down at him with a concerned look on his face, then pulled up a chair beside his seat. "Iruka, do you know why I asked to see you?" he asked.  
  
Iruka did not look up as he shrugged his shoulders. It didn't matter what he said because the instructor was going to tell him anyway. If he guessed wrong that would only mean more trouble, and if he guessed right he would only be lectured more about how they intended to 'fix' the problem.   
  
Seeing that he was not going to get a response from his student, the instructor rubbed his temples in annoyance. "Iruka, your grades are going down hill," he said bluntly.   
  
"Yeah, so?" Iruka answered, not lifting his eyes from the surface of the desk.   
  
"So...if you don't start to work harder, it's going to become really difficult to become a ninja." The instructor explained as patiently as he could. When Iruka didn't answer, the instructor reached out to touch his arm. "Iruka, is there something wrong?" he asked quietly, with the intention of helping.  
  
Iruka's head snapped up and he slapped the hand away. "Something Wrong?!" Iruka repeated with heat, "WHY would there be anything wrong!? I'm only an ORPHEN, What possible reason would there be for me to have something wrong in my life?!" Iruka choked back his words, he had not meant to yell or to even utter those contemptible words at the older man. But he had and now his instructor would be 'obligated' to help him. Iruka didn't want 'help' he wanted his parents, and the man sitting in front of him could not give him that.  
  
Iruka stood there, his breathing labored because of all the shouting and the emotional turmoil he was feeling. Tears began to sting his eyes and he realised he could not let his teacher see him cry...he would not. Pushing the man aside and staring at the ground, Iruka fled the room without saying another word. His instructor, watching him go, sighed. This was going to take some kind of drastic measure....  
  
Iruka ran blindly out into the hallway, well maybe not running, but he was definitely in a hurry to get out of there. As it was Iruka was not watching were he was going, but it was after school hours so no one should have been in the hallways. Unfortunately for Iruka there was, and with his head bent down to hide the tears Iruka ran straight into them...a lot of them. Falling onto his ass, he groaned and rubbed at his head, his topknot loosening slightly. Looking up to apologize to the people he had crashed into, his blood froze. It was one of those notorious gangs of students from two grades above him...and they always took any opporotunity to pick on Iruka since he was smaller and weaker than them.  
  
"Hey, look boys, it's Iruuuuka, where are you going, chicken little?" one of the boys smirked and leered towards Iruka.  
  
The older boy leering over Iruka smirked as the smaller boy tried to get away. Unfortunately for Iruka, the front of his shirt was now firmly in the grip of the older boy. "Oh look, Our little Iruka is scared to tears."   
  
"Poor little orphan."   
  
"Tisk tisk, not only is he a pathetic crybaby and orphan , but look at this scar." one of the boys poked Iruka in the nose, "Poor ugly duckling."  
  
Iruka squirmed and tried to get away, but the older boy had dragged him up to a standing position, pulling him right up to his face. As the older boy's friends laughed around him, his smirk widened. "Hmm, what do you guys think we should do to ickle Iruka?" He cooed cruelly. Iruka stared, frightened, at the gang of older boys, there was nothing he could do. "Maybe we should give him another scar to match the one on his nose..." He grinned and pulled his fist back to punch Iruka in the face. Iruka winced, waiting for the blow to come.  
  
When the blow did not come, Iruka opened one eye a tiny crack, then the other shot open with shock when he saw the scene in front of him. Some one...some one had actually come to his rescue! Hell was freezing over, that was the only exsplanation. Who would want to step in and stop a fight with these gorillas? Iruka knew he had no friends last time he checked so who would come to his aid?  
  
The head bully's eyes widened as the young man who'd saved Iruka slowly twisted his arm behind his back, with all the emotion of a dead fish. "Don't you have better things to do?" he asked in a quiet voice, looking over at the others, who obviously knew him, for they were staring in sort of awe and fear. "...what has come of youth today?" he wondered, pulling out a small book from his pocket and nonchalantly reading it while he continued to twist the bully's arm. "I can wait all day you know..." he pointed out quietly.  
  
"K-Kakashi!" the bully grimiced in pain as his arm was twisted into a very painful looking position. Not being abble to take it anymore the bully who had suspended Iruka in the air, dropped the younger boy. The wind was knocked out of Iruka when he hit the ground hard.   
  
Satisfied, the boy named Kakashi gave one final twist and released the bully's arm. The gang stood and stared at him for a moment, and Kakashi grinned. "I believe this is the part where you all leave." he said almost pleasantly. By the way the boys scattered and ran off in all directions, however, it was obvious it was a threat, not a vague suggestion.  
  
Kakashi took his eyes away form the book in his hand and looked down at the fifteen year old who was panting for breath. Iruka raised his head to look at his rescuer, and would have thanked the older boy if he could breathe right, or if his mouth didn't feel like it had become a desert. By the time Iruka was ready to say his thanks, Kakashi had walked passed him, heading in the direction that Iruka had just come from. "Um...aah, K-Kakashi?" He was finally able to get out.  
  
Kakashi stopped and turned to look at the younger boy, who had not gotten up off the floor. Iruka found himself tounge tied and nervous, not knowing what to say, since no one had ever stuck up for him before. "Um...isn't that book for eighteen year olds?" he blurted out, and immediately wished he hadn't. 'Great, now he'll think I'm a total moron.' he thought to himself miserably, realizing that his big mouth had probably cost him his one chance of having an actual friend.  
  
Kakashi raised an eyebrow...or maybe he raised them both, Iruka couldn't tell because there was a bandage covering his left eye. Why hadn't he noticed that earlier? Oh yeah...the bullies had been trying to rearrange his face...   
  
Kakashi looked at the book in his hand then back to the boy on the floor. "So it is..." he said as if he was surprised.  
  
Iruka looked at him for a moment as Kakashi stared at his book. The older boy's face was completely covered by a black mask, and one eye was covered by the bandage, which made him look very odd indeed. Not to mention that his silver hair was sticking up at odd angles where the bandage was wrapped around his head. Iruka had heard of Kakashi before...a genius ninja who had passed the Chuunin selection exam when he was only six...  
  
"Eh, whatever." Kakashi finally shrugged and turned around to continue down the hallway.  
  
After a moment Iruka realized that he was still sitting in the middle of the empty hallway. Blushing hotly, he quickly got up and made his way to his locker, grabbing his stuff and practically ran out of the academy. He was so embarrassed, having been saved by a ninja, and one as notorious as Kakashi!   
  
He ran blindly through the streets, not bothering to really look where he was going. Fortunately he'd made this trek so often that he practically found his way home without having to think about it. Climbing up the stairs and into his small home, he dropped his books on the ground and stared at them miserably for a moment.  
  
Homework. Homework meant school...which was the last thing he wanted to be thinking about right now. School was usually any teenagers hell-hole but it was even more so for Iruka, he had no friends, and the teacher didn't seem to care what he was going through. Although that was probably his fault for being the class clown in the first place. But it still hurt...couldn't anyone see how much he was hurting?   
  
Fighting back the tears, he closed the door behind him and stepped forward, leaving his books lying there on the floor. He stumbled through his small apartment and into his even smaller bedroom, and flopped down on his bed, burying his face in the pillow. It was days like this that made him wonder why he even bothered to get up in the morning...it's not like there was anything good waiting for him at the academy.  
  
Kakashi sighed as he stood in front of an older man, the office he was in was stuffy, filled with books, and papers were taking up more space then they should. He was a little annoyed with the current situation, if he hadn't had his eye injured he wouldn't have been given this assignment... although he really didn't know what the actual assignment was, all he knew was that it involved the academy.  
  
His one visible eye twitched slightly as he waited for the older man to find some piece of paper which was hidden in this paper ridden excuse for an office. He couldn't help but feel that the rest of his life would pass by waiting for this genius to find something that probably wasn't even there.  
  
"Ah, here it is." The man said, and miraculously pulled out one sheet of paper from a large stack of the things. This action, however, inadvertently caused the entire stack to fall over. Kakashi sighed as he looked down at the paper covered floor. If anyone wanted to kill this guy they wouldn't have to wait for a ninja, this office was most likely a death trap.   
  
Sighing, the older man didn't even bother to look at the mess on the floor, since that would certainly tell him he had to clean it. "Here, sign this." he said, handing the paper over to Kakashi. "It allows you to be legally under the employ of the academy for the duration of your injury." the older man told him, and lazily cleared a spot on the desk so Kakashi could write his name on the paper...as if he wanted to, but he needed to be employed somehow.   
  
Taking the newly signed document, the older man 'filed' it in yet another stack of papers. "Ok, your job is to be a tutor at the academy for those who are having difficulty with their ninja training." He informed Kakashi.  
  
'Oh Joy.' Kakashi thought, although he was careful to keep his expression as bored as possible so as not to show the annoyance. Although with his mask and his bandaged eye it probably didn't matter what his expression was like.   
  
"Actually, I have one student in particular that I would like you to work with." the older man continued as he began looking through the files. Finding the one he was searching for he pulled it out and handed it to Kakashi, "One Umino Iruka, Class 3C. Currently failing...almost everything."  
  
TBC…  
  
So what do you think? Was it good? Did you like it? Please review. 


	2. Chapter 2

Corn Fields and Coral Reefs   
  
see original summary, disclaimers, and warnings on the first chapter  
  
Parings: There will be more than just IrukaxKakashi later on…when we've figured them out we will tell you  
  
NA: Characters might exhibit certain bursts of OOC…syndrome…we apologize.  
  
Chapter #2  
  
"Actually, I have one student in particular that I would like you to work with." the older man continued as he began looking through the files. Finding the one he was searching for, he pulled it out and handed it to Kakashi, "One Umino Iruka, Class 3C. Currently failing… almost everything."  
  
Kakashi sighed inwardly and took the file, opening it. It was a student file, and even included a little picture of this Iruka student. The groan he made this time was audible. "Not that wimpy kid I saved in the hallway today?" he grumbled under his breath.  
  
"What?" The older man asked, blinking.  
  
"Never mind...when do I start?" Kakashi asked with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.  
  
"I'd like you to start tomorrow if possible, but if not we can wait a day." The man answered.   
  
Kakashi stifled yet another a groan, this was not going to be a fun assignment at all, but he wasn't allowed to take any other assignments because of his injury, and a man needs to eat...that and the the next issue of his book was coming out soon.  
  
"Fine, I'll start tomorrow." Kakashi answered. 'Oh, the fun of teaching,' he thought bitterly to himself, 'man I don't know how sensei could stand us.'  
  
"Excellent." the older man smiled a tired sort of smile and handed him a book. "There that should help you...although by the look of your file you probably won't need any help." He commented. "Meet me in room 201 tomorrow at three and I'll introduce you to your new student."  
  
Nodding his head Kakashi left the death trap of an office, Iruka's student file tucked under his arm. He didn't think the older man would notice it missing any time soon, and Kakashi figured that he should look into the kid's background some more...if only to look more mysterious when he met Iruka formally tomorrow.  
  
He sighed again as he exited the building, and looked up at the moon, as if daring it to explain why his life was being a pain. Not only was he injured and it was hard to see with only one eye, now he had possibly the crappiest mission in the history of the world. He was one of the village's top ninja and he shouldn't have to stoop so low...  
  
"...oh well..." He muttered to himself, and pulled out his book again as he headed for home.  
  
Iruka rubbed the sleep from his eyes, his head felt like it weighed a ton and the sunlight shining into his room was not at all inviting. Wishing he could go back to bed and forget that he had a test today, he groaned and threw back the covers. He drug his feet as he made his way around the house getting ready for another miserable day at school.  
  
Fixing himself a quick breakfast of slightly burnt toast, Iruka picked up his things off the floor and groaned, realizing he was going to be in trouble again for not doing his homework. He then threw a jacket on to stave off the morning chill, and wandered slowly to school, in no real hurry to go to a place he hated.  
  
Iruka's brain was in a state of hibernation as he worked his way through his classes, and was yelled at by the teacher no less than 5 times, 3 of which occurred within the same half an hour. He had a feeling that he had also failed his test with a new record low. Lunch was loud and overcrowded as usual, plus he had not made himself a lunch that morning so he was basically starving by the end of the day.   
  
All he wanted to do was go home and cook him-self some dinner, but the teacher stopped him once again on his way out the door to head home. "Iruka, I want you to start seeing a tutor after school." He explained to him, and Iruka groaned. He knew there was no way out of this and it was just going to mean spending more time at this god awful place.  
  
His teacher ignored his groans of protest, as he led Iruka to room 201. Feeling like he was on a death march Iruka slumped his shoulders and followed his teacher as they entered the room and found it empty. Iruka was a little thankful his tutor was not there yet, but after standing for about 10 minutes, he was forced to sit down in a chair while the teacher continued to stand. After 20 minutes, however, he was paged to the office, leaving Iruka completely alone and waiting for a total stranger. It also did not help his mood that his stomach was growling in protest of being starved.  
  
A half an hour passed, then forty minutes, then an hour with no sign of the tutor, and Iruka was just about to give up and decide that even someone hired to help him didn't care enough to show up. Right before he was going to leave, however, the silver haired boy Kakashi, from the day before, wandered lazily through the door with his nose buried in his book. Glancing up at Iruka, he smiled. "Sorry I'm late, but this kid stopped me in the street to ask for directions..."  
  
Iruka didn't care if it was the truth or not, he'd had a horrible day and he was hungry. Very, very hungry, "Look I don't care if your here to tutor me or not, Cuzz I'm leaving." With out another word Iruka picked up his backpack and walked passed Kakashi.... or he at lest tried to. Kakashi had leaned against the door, blocking Iruka's path of escape, his nose still buried in his perverted book.  
  
"...Could you please move?" Iruka asked, trying not to lose what composure he still had left.   
  
"Now why would I want to do that?" Kakashi asked, not looking up from his book. He smiled to himself. "Heh, this is a good part, want to read?" he turned the book around for Iruka to see.  
  
"Ack! No I don't!" Iruka complained, pushing the book away. "Look, just let me go home, ok?"  
  
Kakashi turned his book back around and looked at Iruka. "Give me one good reason why I should." he challenged.  
  
As if in answer to his question, Iruka's stomach gave a loud growl. His face turned as red as a beat, "I-I didn't have lunch today...I would like to go home and eat...please" he knew he sounded rather childish, but damn it he was starving and today had just sucked completely. He was going to get home even if he had to promise to be Kakashi's maid for a month.  
  
Kakashi seemed to consider his plea, but took a painfully long time doing so in Irukas opinion. "Hmmm..." He finally said at length. "So your only problem is that you're hungry, is that it?" he asked. Iruka raised an eyebrow but nodded, his stomach growling again. Kakashi glanced at the boring classroom in front of him, an unimpressed look in his one visible eye. "Well I don't think there was anything in the contract about having to conduct my mission in this stuffy old room." He pointed out.  
  
Iruka was not sure if he agreed with the silver haired ninja, but if it got him food he really didn't care how Kakashi rationalized his decisions. Apparently not finished yet, however, Kakashi nodded his head in thought and continued his rationalization, "It would be best if I got to know you better before I started to tutor you. Get to know your strengths and weaknesses..." Iruka fidgeted a little as Kakashi droned on to himself, and after a moment, Kakashi's head shot up, looking at Iruka suddenly, and asked: "Do you cook?"  
  
Iruka was somewhat taken aback. "Huh?" he blinked. "Er...I guess so, but what does that have to do with..." he started, but Kakashi grinned, or at least Iruka thought he did, and slapped him on the back.   
  
"Well that settles it, we'll eat at your house." He said triumphantly.  
  
"Wha..." Iruka found himself being pushed out of the room by a far too happy Kakashi. He gave up protesting, however, seeing as Kakashi was once again glued to his book.   
  
Sighing, Iruka lead the way to his home, although he figured Kakashi would probably complain about his living conditions. Iruka wasn't exactly the neatest person in the world, what teenager was? But to make matters worse, he had not had the chance to do anything about dishes or laundry for about 2 weeks, so it would be a miracle if he even found a clean plate in the cupboards.  
  
Kakashi, however, upon entering Iruka's humble abode, didn't say anything. In fact, he really didn't seem to want to do much but read that stupid book of his. Sighing, Iruka pulled on his apron to protect his clothes (he really didn't have that many outfits), and went to work cleaning enough dishes in order to cook and eat supper for two. Iruka felt somewhat silly...he'd never cooked for anyone besides himself before...he worried that maybe the older boy would find it disgusting or something.  
  
Unknown to Iruka, however, Kakashi wasn't really reading his book but was watching the younger boy work away at the seemingly endless task before him. He'd had to stop himself from laughing at the poor boy when he donned the apron. He couldn't imagine any teenage boy ever subjecting themselves to the humiliation, and right in front of a complete stranger at that. From his manner, Kakashi figured that Iruka was a push-over, someone used to being ignored or laughed at and not only that, he seemed mentally weak as well, like he would do anything anyone told him to.  
  
Kakashi nonchalantly flipped a page, to maintain the illusion that he was actually still reading the book, and glanced around the tiny house. It was almost obvious that no one must live here besides Iruka himself...this Iruka must be some kind of orphan or something. He sighed. This was going to be a more difficult task than he thought...how was he supposed to get a mentally weak, pushover orphan like this kid to become a good student?  
  
It didn't take long for Iruka to finish cleaning the dishes, mainly because he didn't own that many to begin with. Once that was done, Iruka searched his bare cupboards for something edible to serve his 'guest'. Finding the last two packs of instant ramen in the back of the cupboard, he put some water on to boil.   
  
As he waited for the water to heat up, Iruka walked across to the table and practically flopped down onto one of his chairs, feeling utterly sorry for himself. He didn't bother to lift his head from the table...he really didn't want to look at his tutor right now...he just wanted to eat and go to bed.  
  
"Hmmm..." Kakashi's voice reached his ears. "Well isn't this interesting?"  
  
Iruka glanced up, expecting him to be reading his little book, but instead Kakashi was flipping through a folder with Iruka's name stamped on the side in red ink.  
  
Iruka's eyes shot open in surprise. Kakashi had his permanent file...the file even he was not allowed to look at, the file that was NOT allowed to leave the school under any circumstances. "Where did you get that!?" Iruka demanded, his voice going a bit high form hysteria. Kakashi looked up from the file and blinked at Iruka who was now on his feet, a panicked look on his face.   
  
"Oh this?" Kakashi blinked and turned the file over in his hands. "I...recovered it from your instructor's office..."  
  
"You mean you STOLE it?!" Iruka stared at him in disbelief.  
  
"'Steal' is such a strong word..." Kakashi mused nonchalantly.  
  
"You did steal it!" Iruka cried, pointing at him, then proceeded to pull at his hair. "Great, just when I thought things couldn't get any worse..."  
  
"Wanna see it?" Kakashi offered.  
  
Iruka blinked, he wanted to look at it...but what if his teacher found out? Kakashi had stolen the damned thing though, so shouldn't he take this opportunity?   
  
Kakashi laughed a little as he saw Iruka's conflicting emotions appear on his face like words in a book. Glaring a little, Iruka finally held out his hand, "I want see it," he said seriously, but Kakashi snatched it back from Iruka's hands before he could grab it.  
  
"Wha...hey I thought you said I could see it?" Iruka complained, trying to reach the file, but Kakashi, being taller than him, held it easily out of his reach.  
  
Kakashi yawned as if, he was bored by the whole thing. "If you want it you'll have to take it from me," he informed Iruka, who merely stared at him. "Go on, show me what you've got."  
  
Iruka stared at Kakashi for a moment then tried to tackle the older, more experienced ninja. Kakashi sidestepped out of the way, and Iruka found himself tripping over the chair Kakashi had just vacated. Kakashi made tisking noises as Iruka sat on the floor rubbing a skinned elbow. "Your going to have to do a lot better then that, you know." he told him.  
  
Iruka glared and slammed the floor with his fist, leaping up to try and tackle Kakashi again. Kakashi, however, once more sidestepped it easily, and Iruka banged his head on the cupboard doors. Kakashi winced. "Ooh...that had to hurt..."  
  
"Damn it, give me that file!" Iruka cried, and tried once more to grab hold of the older ninja, who dodged his attacks like he was out taking a walk or something.  
  
"Hmmm, you have spirit after all..." Kakashi commented. "Oh, your water's boiling." He pointed out in a flat tone.  
  
"Ah, Shit!" Iruka dashed to the stove, but unfortunately toppled over the same chair he had earlier, which had apparently decided that it liked to be in the way. Iruka fell forward as he tripped, and saw stars when his head hit the oven door. To make matters worse, the impact of his head crashing against the door caused the water kettle to topple over and spill it's scalding contents onto the poor, dazed Iruka.   
  
TBC...  
  
Okay that's the end of the second chapter What do you think? Gasp What an evil cliff hanger! Hope you liked it! Feel sorry for Iruka . hitting your head on a cupboard really, really hurts… not to mention hot water too .   
  
Thanks to all the people who reviewed! You people are the best! YEAH!   
  
And we apologize for any miss-spelled words or grammatical errors . We try, people, we really do try to get everything, but it's hard sometimes when one of us has dyslexia… okay, it's the Mysterious Ninja…she's an artist, not a writer.   
  
MN: sniff I'm sorry for my horrid spelling…. it's so bad sometimes the computer can't even put it into a readable language.  
  
Eimaj: Yes…it is…so horrible….  
  
MN: It also doesn't help matters that Eimaj has a really evil word program with an evil spell-checking thing on it. Eimaj: ...It causes more problems than it solves.  
  
Anyway, We shall try to be more careful in the future. (Just be thankful you're not reading the msn version of this .) And yes we're writing this on msn so most of the plot lines are from spur of the moment thinking. And for that we apologize for making Iruka seem to be a bit of a whining brat, but you have to remember that he's got no-one and he's younger…not everyone in the world is as they were 9 years ago.  
  
Anyway, please review 


	3. Chapter 3

Corn Fields and Coral Reefs  
  
see original summary, disclaimers, and warnings on the first and second chapters  
  
Chapter #3  
  
"Ah, Shit!" Iruka dashed to the stove, but unfortunately toppled over the same chair he had earlier, which had apparently decided that it liked to be in the way. Iruka fell forward as he tripped, and saw stars when his head hit the oven door. To make matters worse, the impact of his head crashing against the door caused the water kettle to topple over and spill it's scalding contents onto the poor, dazed Iruka  
  
Feeling something pat his face to get him to focus, Iruka slowly realized that he was looking up into Kakashi's masked and bandaged face. "You really are a klutz, you know that?" The silver haired ninja asked, as he sort of spun in Iruka's field of vision.  
Iruka groaned and sat up, pushing Kakashi's hand away, and rubbing his head where he'd smacked it into the oven door. His head by now was pounding...he'd hit it twice within two minutes, and his dizzy gaze slowly focused beyond Kakashi to the kettle lying on the floor, the water surrounding it on the floor still steaming. He reached up to touch his face, half expecting it to be scalded off or something, but besides the lumps on his head he was fine.  
He groaned again and held his head, he felt dizzy and a little sick to his stomach. Not only that, but Kakashi had apparently saved him, not that the situation was really life threatening or anything but it was damn embarrassing in Iruka's opinion. If his head hadn't hurt so much he would have told Kakashi to leave...he wanted to yell but his head couldn't even stand the lights from over-head shining in his eyes at this point in time.  
He closed his eyes in the hopes that somehow Kakashi would disappear if he couldn't see him, and felt something being lightly placed on his head and left there. Only half caring, Iruka reached up a hand to feel the file folder sitting on his head, and pulled it down, looking at it, as if trying to look through it or something. Not bothering to open it, Iruka placed it down on the floor and continued to hold his aching head. He didn't want to look at it anymore, it probably just held a list of all the times he'd goofed off in class just to get attention.  
With his eyes closed Iruka was vaguely aware of Kakashi's movements as he opened his fridge freezer and pulled something out, probably the ice cream Iruka had stashed away in there. At this point, however, he didn't care if Kakashi was stealing his ice cream, he just wanted his head to stop aching and the world to stop spinning. He heard something clinking in the kitchen and pretended not to hear, so it was a complete surprise when he suddenly found something cold being pressed against the sore on his head.  
Iruka opened one eye to find Kakashi kneeling beside him, holding an ice bag in place. "Do you think you can stand?" He asked. Iruka was a little surprised when he heard the slight concern in the ninja's voice. He didn't nod his head for fear that it might fall off, but he did try to get his feet under him and stand with Kakashi's help.  
His legs didn't seem to want to hold him up but he used every ounce of strength he had and eventually was able to stand without feeling like he was going to totally collapse. It was more a determination not to embarrass himself any further that did it, since the room was still spinning uncontrollably.  
"Alright, now try walking..." Kakashi said, still holding onto him so Iruka wouldn't fall over. Iruka winced and took a step, then another, with no real idea as to where he was going. Soon, however, he found himself in his dimly lit bedroom, and was a little confused because he couldn't remember getting there. Kakashi apparently had a hand in that, because he was now helping Iruka into bed. He placed the ice pack on Iruka's head again, and disappeared. Iruka was too out of it to even notices the older ninja's presence was gone. Closing his eyes, he let himself drift into unconsciousness, not caring about anything else.  
When he awoke, how long afterwards he didn't know since his room was always dark as a tomb, he felt much better and was able to sit up without feeling like his head would explode. The ice pack slipped off his head and landed in his lap and he yawned, stretching lazily. A pleasant odor caught his nostrils and he glanced over to find two sandwiches and a thermos sitting on his bedside table.  
Not questioning where the food offering had come from, Iruka reached for the thermos and opened it. He was thankful for the fact that it was only full of water...his empty stomach would not have been able to handle orange juice or something right now. Talking a sip of the water, he grabbed one sandwich and examined it. It was peanut butter and jam.  
He blinked and looked at the sandwich for a while...when was the last time he'd had either peanut butter or jam in his house at the same time? He shrugged and took a bite, then practically inhaled both sandwiches and the thermos of water. Finished, he lay back down and patted his full stomach in contentment, wondering what time it was.  
Since he only had one clock in his entire house, Iruka sighed and dragged his feet out of bed and to the kitchen, then stood in front of the microwave, blinking sleepily at the glowing numbers. 1:45 am. Too damn early, Iruka thought to himself then drug his feet back to his room and turned on his bedside light. That was when he noticed the brown folder lying on the floor by his feet.  
Rubbing at his sleep filled eyes, he slowly reached down and picked it up, then sat on his bed by the lamplight and opened the folder. A small piece of paper not enclosed in a paper clip slipped out and fluttered to the ground, landing at his feet. Curious, Iruka placed the open folder on his pillow and bent to pick it up.  
Thinking it was probably nothing more than a progress report on him, Iruka barely gave it a thought as he began to read. Iruka took a sip of water, then nearly chocked on it when his eyes read the words. He had to go back and re-read what he had just read to confirm that he was not hallucinating.  
Yes, it was! This was a letter to the Hokage written by one of his teachers and it was about him! It started out ordinary, as most letters do, but when he got to the second paragraph, Iruka didn't know what to think.  
He stared at the words and practically dropped the thermos of water in surprise. Putting the thermos back on his bedside table, he grabbed the paper with both hands and read rapidly through the words. It was by his teacher, and basically outlined his concerns about Iruka having lost his parents to the fox demon, and his change in classroom behavior. His teacher went on to say that he was afraid that Iruka might have been traumatized by having witnessed the ordeal, and may never be able to live a normal life because of it.  
Iruka didn't know whether to be relieved that they were taking an interest in his welfare, or be mad that they talked of him as if he was crazy. But since the date on the letter was almost 3 years old, Iruka figured they hadn't really taken his welfare seriously at all. Sure, there was a letter, but what good had come of it in the five years since it had been written? He felt just as miserable then as he did now, and how could seeing your parents die while fighting a monster not affect anyone of any age?  
Finally, he crumpled up the letter and threw it across the room in frustration. It bounced off his closed door and came to a stop on the floor, the white a stark contrast to his dark carpeting. He held his head with his hands and just stared at his feet for a long time. He knew he should be going back to sleep, he had school in the morning, but the letter was eating him up inside. His teacher had worried that he was going to turn into a problem child and that's just what happened to him...why had no one tried to stop it?  
Because no one cared, that's why. Everyone else was so caught up in their own lives they didn't have the time to spare one little orphan from turning into a delinquent. Sure he had a small apartment that was provided for him by the village, and an allowance for food and other stuff, but who had actually taken the time to see if he really was alright? Who had cared enough to come and comfort him when he was so alone?  
Alone...man was he ever alone, he thought miserably to himself. At school, even though he tried to hard to get everyone to recognize him, he had no friends at all, all the teachers did was badger him about his homework, and after all of that he had to come home to an empty house, and feel even more alone. And now he had to spend untold hours with this Kakashi person who seemed to dislike him and enjoyed teasing him all the time.  
Iruka flopped himself down on the pillow, he was just making himself feel even worse by thinking about yesterday, because today sucked, and it was only one in the morning. This was not going to be a good day at all. Reaching out a hand blindly, Iruka flicked off the lamp. With any luck he would sleep away the first period, and maybe the second, then it would be lunch and what was the point in going to school after lunch?  
  
He closed his eyes and in minutes was sleeping, the folder and crumpled up letter all but forgotten by his dream filled mind.  
  
Iruka slept through first period...he slept through lunch...in fact, he slept through the entire day, snoring happily away in dreamland...little did he know that his peace was about to be very rudely interrupted...  
Iruka sat up, wide awake when something very cold and very wet drenched him from head to toe. Gasping in shock, he looked up to see Kakashi sitting on his windowsill holding a now empty bucket.  
"Good morning!" the masked Ninja said happily, "Actually, it's more like Good afternoon...really, do you always let your guard down so anyone can sneak into your home?" Iruka shivered and stared dumbly as Kakashi nattered on like he had nothing better to do than annoy Iruka. "I've been here for almost 10 minutes watching you sleep, you know. Is that any way to treat a guest?"  
"What is wrong with...achoo!" Iruka sneezed and sniffled loudly, glaring at Kakashi. "You know you could have just knocked."  
"Tried that." Kakashi jumped down and landed silently, standing on Iruka's pillow. He bent down and grinned in Iruka's face. "But apparently you were too far into la la land to hear me, so I had to find alternative ways inside."  
Iruka answered that grin with a glare, "Well, thanks to your 'alternative way', I now have a soaked bed, which won't be dry by the time I need it again!" Muttering threats under his breath, Iruka stripped his bed of sheets and blankets and hung them up on his closet door. But his mattress? There was no way he was going to be able to sleep in it tonight, and it wasn't like he could sleep on the couch. He didn't have one, so that was kind of impossible.  
"Really?" Kakashi poked the soaked mattress with one finger. "I'd sleep on this."  
"What the hell, are you insane?!" Iruka demanded, hands twitching for the opportunity to strangle this nuisance.  
"Meh, it's better than sleeping with a rock for a pillow." Kakashi shrugged, then turned back to Iruka. "Anyway, you ready for your lessons?"  
"I didn't go to school today, therefore I don't have to..." Iruka started.  
Kakashi looked up and poked Iruka in the nose, "That is exactly why you are getting a lesson today." he said and grinned under the mask at Iurka's dumbfounded expression. "I was paid to tutor you, and I never leave a mission unfinished. Plus you're failing all your subjects and your teachers are pretty desperate at this point."  
Iruka turned his head and glared at the ground "Pfft, like they care." He pouted.  
"I could care less weather they do or not." Kakashi replied, and shoved something into Iruka's mouth before he could retaliate. "Here, eat this and lets get going, I'm taking you out on the field today." Kakashi said. "And maybe you should take that apron off before you leave the house." he pointed out.  
Iruka had to swallow whatever it was that Kakashi had shoved into his mouth if he did not want to choke on it. He blushed a little while pulling off the apron, but didn't bother with the rest of his clothing, they were the last clean pair he had anyway so it wouldn't matter if he changed or not. Iruka wondered while he fixed his topknot why Kakashi was taking this dumb tutor thing so seriously.  
He turned his head to find Kakashi rummaging through his closet. "H- hey, what are you doing?" he asked, way past the point of understanding why this guy did anything.  
"Looking for your training equipment, where is it?" Kakashi asked, throwing things out of the closet. Iruka blinked as he watched this, he really had no idea where it was.  
"Ummm..." he said unintelligently as he thought. Kakashi looked at him in disbelief, and when Iruka saw the look he glared back, "I'm failing, what did you expect?" he demanded.  
Kakashi sighed with annoyance, "We might as well get your camping gear out too. If we wait any longer we're going to be spending the night in the forest."  
"Hey, no one said I had to sleep outside..." Iruka started to complain, and Kakashi just looked at him.  
"Hey, I'm your tutor now so you'll do what I tell you to, now where's your camping gear." Kakashi retorted. Apparently the calm coolness he had maintained yesterday was peeling slightly for some reason.  
"I don't have any, 'Tutor'" Iruka answered sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest in defiance  
"Well I guess that means you're sleeping outside tonight then." Kakashi turned back to his task of looking for Iruka's equipment, "Pity, the weather man said there was going to be rain tonight." Iruka stared at him in shock, this was no tutor, he was some kind of slave driver.  
Kakashi finally gave up on the closet and looked under Iruka's bed. "Eureka!" he cried in triumph and pulled out an extremely dusty box. He blew on it and coughed from the massive layer of dust that came off the thing. "Man, don't you know how to clean?" he complained, and pulled the lid off. All of the training equipment inside was totally shiny and obviously had never really been used before. 'Oh geeze...just when I thought this assignment couldn't get any harder...' He thought to himself and stood up with the box tucked under his arm. "Well lets get moving." He told Iruka, who was still staring at him in shock.  
"W-Wait a minute!" Iruka called out to Kakashi, who did not wait. He groaned and followed him out of his apartment. Stretching his legs to catch up, Iruka glared at Kakashi again. "Why do you care so much if your 'mission' is completed?" He asked, panting for breath.  
Kakashi sighed and looked at Iruka, and in a very serious voice answered: "I finished my book last night and then next one just came out."  
Iruka stared at him in complete disbelief. "What does that have to do with dragging me out into the wilderness?!" he demanded, throwing his hands up in the air while trying to keep up with the older ninja.  
"Your instructor told me that I don't get paid until you start to show improvement, and normal methods won't work on you so I have to take drastic measures." Kakashi explained.  
"What, you mean your putting me through hell just so you can afford a stupid book?" Iruka choked out.  
Kakashi didn't answer Iruka's emotional outburst and just continued walking towards the forest. Iruka tried to calm himself down, but it was hard. Kakashi didn't care if he liked it or not, all he cared about was that stupid book, something that he could do with out if he bloody well had to. "You can be just damn well illiterate for all I care!" Iruka found himself yelling. "You don't care about me, so why should I care about your stupid perverted book?!"  
Kakashi stopped but didn't look behind him as Iruka took a few steps backwards, the familiar feeling of tears stinging his eyes. "You can just tell the damned academy to leave me the hell alone from now on and ask them to give you a new student, I don't care anymore!" He yelled. "I don't want to be a ninja!" With that last outburst he turned and fled down the street.  
Kakashi sighed, had he mentioned that he hated this assignment? He did? Well it needed to be repeated. 'Why is that brat, such a ...well brat?' Sighing again, he followed his student ninja stealthily as he ran off. No use letting him know he was being followed, and maybe Kakashi could find out something. Hey, Kakashi loved his books.  
With relative ease, he tailed the young topnotted boy as he ran in what appeared to be a blind fashion through the streets. Kakashi was starting to get annoyed...did this kid lack any sort of sense at all? He was going to hurt himself at this rate and then Kakashi would be held responsible for it. At last Iruka slowed, then eventually stopped, leaning on a tree for support...he'd run out of breath from running willy-nilly through the streets.  
Iruka puffed for breath as he slowed to a walk, he was near his destination and it wouldn't do for someone to see him running through the graveyard. He knew the place well, it was a place were he would go when he was feeling lonely...well that had been until the grounds keeper said he shouldn't be coming and disturbing their rest so often with trivial matters, but right then Iruka didn't care.  
He stumbled into the graveyard and wound his way through it expertly...he'd been there so many times before and it never really changed much. At last finding the graves he was looking for he collapsed in front of them, exhausted and miserable. Kakashi appeared in a tree overhead, unknown to Iruka.  
Iruka stayed there for quite some time, simply crying. He hated his life, he missed his parents, and would have given anything for their return. After a while his eyes were too tired to cry any more, but he didn't get up from the ground where he had flung himself. He didn't even bother to move when he heard the sound of feet landing beside him.  
Whoever it was squatted down beside him to read the inscriptions on the tombstones wordlessly. "Your parents..." Kakashi's voice suddenly said, but Iruka still did not look up, or bother to be surprised that he had found him there. "How did they die?" Kakashi asked.  
"The Fox..." Iruka's hoarse voice whispered, he didn't bother to look up at Kakashi, it wasn't like he cared, no one did.  
"Many Ninjas died that night....not just your parents." Kakashi said as he sat down beside Iruka, "They were trying to save everyone, and unfortunately many lost their lives."  
Iruka shivered, trying not to cry again, "I-I know," He managed to get out. "I know lots of other people died. Including the 4th! But after...after it was over I was alone! No one cared! I was just an inconvenience to everyone! Even you!"  
Kakashi blinked. "What makes you think I don't care?" he asked. Iruka looked at him like he was a slug or something.  
"Gee I dunno...maybe it's the fact that you hate me?" He answered sarcastically.  
"I don't hate you, I find you to be an irritating brat." Kakashi corrected him.  
"....Why did I even bother...?" Iruka muttered miserably and hid his head again, not caring that the ground was wet.  
Kakashi sighed, he really was not that good at dealing with people...well making them feel inferior and pissing them off were not good people skills. Why couldn't he get though to the younger boy? It wasn't like Kakashi hadn't lost someone too to that damed fox. But still it was kinda frustrating, and as Kakashi sat lost in his thoughts, a light snoring came from beside him. Iruka apparently had fallen asleep.  
He turned his head to look at Iruka, wondering for a moment how someone so adamant about not sleeping on the ground could have fallen asleep in a graveyard so easily. Then an idea came to him, and he smiled to himself, reaching down to pick up the prone boy.  
  
TBC...  
  
GASP! What is Kakashi planning on doing to poor Iruka?...many things come to mind... most of them scary... anyway find out in the next chapter! Muahahahaha!!!...yeah.  
  
Thanks to all of you who reviewed!  
  
The story is set about 9 years in the past, so Kakashi is 17, Iruka is 15 but he's only one year younger then Kakashi (he will turn 16 at some point...). We actually did research to find out everyone's age . it was very, very hard and time consuming...considering people only ever put up the main characters and not any of the minor characters. . And yes there shall be GenmaHayate later on in the story... but that's later.   
  
Please review, its like air to us...we need it to live!   
  
Oh and we would like to thank 'Rukida AKA Me' ...just because we died laughing when we saw your review 


	4. Chapter 4

Corn Fields and Coral Reefs   
  
see original summary, disclaimers, and warnings on the first chapter  
  
Chapter #4  
  
Kakashi sighed, he really was not that good at dealing with people...well making them feel inferior and pissing them off were not good people skills. Why couldn't he get though to the younger boy? It wasn't like Kakashi hadn't lost someone too to that dammed fox. But still it was kinda frustrating, and as Kakashi sat lost in his thoughts, a light snoring came from beside him. Iruka apparently had fallen asleep.  
  
He turned his head to look at Iruka, wondering for a moment how someone so adamant about not sleeping on the ground could have fallen asleep in a graveyard so easily. Then an idea came to him, and he smiled to himself, reaching down to pick up the prone boy.   
  
Some time later  
  
Iruka awoke to the sounds of birds chirping loudly overhead and groaned, turning over to reach up and shut his bedroom window...only problem was that all his hand met with was air.  
  
He waved his hand about, searching for the window, but after about a minute he was forced to open his sleep filled eyes to see what was going on...and came face to face with what looked suspiciously like a caterpillar crawling on a leaf. ...There were no trees beside his bedroom window...and why was his bed so lumpy? Rolling over, Iruka's blurry vision met with a green canopy of tree leaves with blue sky poking though. 'What the hell?' He thought.  
  
Blinking with bewilderment, he sat up and rubbed the back of his head where several rocks had decided to take residence in his hair, and looked around him. He was totally alone in a clearing somewhere...he really had no idea where he was at all. 'Wha...how did I get here?' he wondered to himself, his brain still foggy with sleep  
  
Standing up to look around, Iruka could see nothing but trees, bushes and grass. 'This can't be good...' Iruka thought and began to panic a little. 'Okay...think, Iruka think!' he mentally scolded himself, 'What happened last night? ...Umm, I was at Mom and Dad's grave...Kakashi was there...oh what else...wait! Maybe Kakashi decided to be an ass and abandon me in the middle of the forest!'  
  
"Damn you, Kakashi!" He cried to the trees.  
  
"Huh? What did I do?" Kakashi's voice said from behind him, making Iruka jump and land on his ass as he spun around too quickly. "You should really learn to lighten up, a good ninja can't have high strung nerves all the time you know." Kakashi advised, and Iruka grabbed him by the front of his shirt.  
  
"Aah, Kakashi, where the hell did you take me?!" he demanded.  
  
Kakashi blinked at the younger teen holding on to the front of his shirt. He had a genuinely confused expression on his face...well at least Iruka thought it looked genuine. Kakashi could just be playing with him mentally. "Why, the forest, of course." He said simply, "That's where I was taking you yesterday, but you had to go and fall asleep."  
  
Iruka stared at him, feeling like his mind was going to break from the stress of it all. Or at least he was going to crumble into dust right then and there. "Wh-why?" He asked, his grip on Kakashi's shirt loosening.  
  
"I told you yesterday, you need some training." Kakashi answered. "Besides, I figured that since you fell asleep in the graveyard you'd gotten over your fear of sleeping outdoors." He shrugged.  
  
Iruka let go of Kakashi's shirt and fell to his knees, he no longer had the energy to fight with his tutor. He couldn't even gather the energy to make some witty retort at the silver haired 17 year old. Kakashi squatted down in front of Iruka and patted his head like some kind of dog.   
  
"That's a good Iruka." He cooed.   
  
Kakashi must have been some kind of mind reader, but that gave Iruka back his energy.  
  
He slapped Kakashi's hand away and stood back up, glaring at him. He knew there was no way he'd be able to find his way back home without help, and the only person around was Kakashi. "Fine." He said, crossing his arms over his chest. "If I do this training of yours will you take me home?" he asked.  
  
Kakashi grinned beneath his mask, "Why certainly!" He said with enthusiasm. "Now to start your training, I want you to go find yourself breakfast." He said happily, and turned away to disappear into the foliage.   
  
Iruka stared at the spot where he'd last seen Kakashi, 'I'm never going to get home, not for a very, very long time...' He thought miserably 'I might as well build a house out here and become a hermit."  
  
He stumbled into the bush, then stopped...knowing him, he'd get a few steps in, get turned around and be lost in there for the rest of his pathetic life. He had to find some way of getting back to the clearing when he was done looking for food...if there even was any food in the forest. "I'm going to kill him..." Iruka muttered under his breath as he dug in his pockets for something he could use  
  
After finding his pockets empty Iruka sighed, 'well I'm already lost, and if Kakashi wants to see me alive again, he can just bloody well find me himself.' With those thoughts in mind, Iruka went in search of water. People could live for a while without food, but water was another story. Besides, there might be fish in the water that he could catch.  
  
He wandered aimlessly though the trees, and the forest slowly became thicker the farther he wandered in. At length, however, his straining ears heard the sound of water running, and he headed in the direction he thought it was coming from. Hey, if he had actually found a stream this soon into his training maybe there was hope for him yet, he thought, and he broke through the trees rather unexpectedly.  
  
He stopped and stared down into the black abyss that had just revealed itself at his feet. Far, far below in the chasm, Iruka could barely make out the river that flowed at its bottom. He sighed and let his legs give out from under him. Life sucked. After a moment of self-pity, Irukas stomach growled, telling him that if he didn't get moving to find something to eat he wouldn't be happy at all.  
  
Forcing himself to his feet, he wandered along the side of the cavern, looking around, hoping to find at least something to eat, or maybe a way down to the water...if it was the only water that was there he should be able to get to it somehow. Something red caught his attention as he walked by, and he turned his head to find a bush full of red berries growing almost on the edge of the cliff face.   
  
He knelt in front of the berry bush and looked at it uncertainly. He'd never seen these kinds of berries before and had no idea if they were edible or not...damn it, he should have paid attention when the instructor was talking about edible plants!  
  
Iruka picked one of the berries and looked at it, which was pointless since he didn't know how looking at it could tell him if it was poison or not. At last, he decided to throw caution to the winds and eat the berry. He was just about to pop it into his mouth when a hand grabbed ahold of his wrist. "I wouldn't eat that if I were you." Kakashi said into his ear.  
  
Iruka jumped and looked up to find Kakashi standing over him, and it was his arm who now held onto his wrist, holding the berry just out of reach of his mouth. "Why not?" He asked, looking at it. It didn't look too dangerous to him.  
  
"Well if you want your insides to melt and die an extremely painful death, go ahead." Kakashi answered, and Iruka dropped the berry as if it was red hot.  
  
Iruka's face had turned an interesting shade of blue in Kakashi's opinion. Seeing his obvious distress from almost eating a poisonous berry, Kakashi had to chuckle "Actually, you wouldn't have noticed the effects until after the second day of fever." he told Iruka, still chuckling to him-self.   
  
Iruka didn't know if he should be glad for that little bit of information, or kill Kakashi for even mentioning it. At the very least he was grateful that Kakashi had stopped him before he'd eaten something that could have potentially ended his life. Then another though occurred to him and he looked at the silver ninja suspiciously. "Hey...how did you show up at just the right time to stop me?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.  
  
"Uh...good timing?" Kakashi suggested hopefully.  
  
"B.S." Iruka growled at Kakashi, "You've been following me."  
  
Kakashi laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "So I was, so I was."   
  
Iruka groaned and hung his head, life was hell. Kakashi patted Iruka's back sympathetically, "Well don't worry, there's a lake not too far from here. You had good sense to look for water, only the source is wrong. Don't feel too bad about it."  
  
Iruka, however, could not possibly have felt any worse. Even if he did think that this whole dumb 'training' thing was stupid, it bothered him that he had so thoroughly screwed up in the first hour of it. What was he, the worst ninja in history? He grumbled and followed Kakashi through the woods, staring at the ground, feeling rather dejected.  
  
It didn't take Iruka long to lose sight of Kakashi again, considering he was looking at the ground and not watching where Kakashi was leading him. He looked around, and suddenly realized he was alone. Feeling like smacking his head against the nearest tree Iruka resisted the urge to do so. 'Okay, it's not like I didn't learn some skills before mom and dad died...' actually, back before he'd lost his parents he had been an excellent student... even though that was hardly the case now.  
  
'Okay...' He thought to himself, and looked down at the soft ground, 'tracking...dad and I used to hunt all the time, this is no different.' he knelt down and touched the ground, looking for Kakashi's footprints, but there were none around. Deciding that he had strayed from Kakashi somewhere along the line, he simply followed his own tracks backwards, keeping a sharp eye out for a second pair of prints.  
  
After a moment of back-tracking, Iruka found the second set of prints, they were very light. In fact, if he had not been following his own tracks back, he would have missed them entirely. Iruka followed Kakashi's tracks, noticing other signs that the ninja had been that way, small things, but he was actually very proud that he could find them. It occurred to him after a few minutes that Kakashi probably wasn't hiding his trail on purpose, and that the skills had most likely become second nature to the silver haired ninja.  
  
As he followed the tracks, he quietly thought to himself about this Kakashi person. He was very mysterious...kept his face covered all of the time, and Iruka wondered what the bandage on his head was for. Also, if his track hiding skills were any indication, as well as his reputation in the village, he was an extremely skilled ninja, even though he was only two years older than Iruka...well maybe a little bit less than two. His thoughts were interrupted, however, when a shadow fell upon the footprints he was staring at. He looked up to find Kakashi standing in front of him, looking slightly surprised to see him there.  
  
Standing up straight, Iruka couldn't help the small smile that twitched at the edge of his lips, he had not expected Kakashi to come back and look for him, but he was pleased that he had showed the older ninja that he could do something.   
  
Kakashi coughed and cleared his throat, "Well, I see that you're not as hopeless as I thought you were."  
  
"Haha, that's right, I followed your trail so easily." Iruka placed his hands on his hips and smirked.   
  
Kakashi rolled his eye in obvious exasperation. "That doesn't help the fact that you got lost in the first place." He answered, and pushed Iruka ahead of him. "Just keep going that way."  
  
Iruka stuck his tongue out and marched ahead of Kakashi, but still felt proud of himself for the first time in a very long time.  
  
Kakashi shook his had and smiled under his mask, Iruka was just full of surprises apparently. After being alone with his grief for so long, Iruka was not now alone, even though Kakashi knew he got under the kid's skin constantly. He figured it was a better choice then ignoring Iruka altogether.   
  
By the time they reached the lake he had mentioned, Kakashi made sure to wipe any smiles off his face. It wouldn't do to let Iruka know that his carefully constructed persona might be peeling slightly with the surprising spirit Iruka was showing. He'd expected him to be totally stubborn or totally depressed. Maybe his unusual method of teaching actually worked...  
  
Then again, Kakashi was the only person the boy could associate with right now... well, that was mainly Kakashi's doing, but Iruka didn't seem to have any friends, nor was he particularly loved by the teacher...more than likely, Iruka tried to get under their skin all the time just for the sake of a little attention.   
  
Iruka stood beside the shore, looking out over the lake, and for a moment there he actually looked content.  
  
Kakashi stood and watched him for a moment, not wanting to disturb what little peace the boy had...at least not before he started his actual training. He watched as Iruka looked down at the ground, then bent over and picked up a flat rock off the ground. "I wonder if I can still do this..." Iruka said to himself, then hurled the rock into the lake. It skipped twice then dropped into the lake with a little splash.  
  
Iruka sighed. "Nope, apparently not." he muttered to himself, and Kakashi cleared his throat, which caught Iruka's attention. Iruka blushed a little with embarrassment as he had forgotten that Kakashi was standing right behind him.  
  
"Well, Iruka, how do you plan on getting breakfast?" Kakashi asked lazily, as if he didn't think Iruka could think of anything.  
  
"What, me?" Iruka pointed to himself, confused. "You saw what just happened, I'll get us both killed."  
  
"Well as long as you remember what those berries looked like you'll be fine...and besides, there is other food here other than plants." Kakashi responded.  
  
"You mean I have to hunt by myself?" Iruka complained, and Kakashi yawned, flopping down on the ground and leaning against a tree.   
  
He plucked a long blade of grass and chewed on the end of it, stretched out lazily and closed his eyes. "Do whatever you like." he answered. "Just wake me up when breakfast is ready."  
  
Iruka couldn't help but stare at Kakashi in disbelief, how in heaven's name was he going to get food for them if he had no tools...or anything for that matter. Sighing, he began to walk along the water's edge, since at least this way he wouldn't become lost. After a while, a crow cawed loudly overhead...if Iruka had a bow and arrow, they could have had roasted crow for breakfast...somehow he was glad he didn't have a bow and arrow.  
  
Something splashed on the still surface of the water and he looked out at the lake...there was obviously fish in there but he had no fishing pole or bait in order to catch them. His stomach growled angrily. Man, would a fish taste real good right now, though, he thought to himself. He looked at the water desperately for a moment, then an idea came to his mind. It wasn't, perhaps, the best idea he'd ever thought of but if it worked, he'd be able to eat.  
  
Feeling self-concious, Iruka looked around...not like there was anyone there, but he looked anyway before stripping down to his boxer shorts. He was about to go into the water when he stopped, realizing something...he was out in the wilderness all alone... except for Kakashi, and he didn't have a change of clothing. That included his underwear. Iruka cringed at the thought of going around in wet shorts from swimming. That did not sound like fun.  
  
Feeling utterly exposed, even though the only things that could see him right now were forest creatures, Iruka carefully pulled off his boxer shorts and placed them on the pile with the rest of his clothes. He quickly ran into the water, in an attempt to hide his nakedness from the world, and swam across the lake a ways, searching for a spot where there might be fish.  
  
Kakashi sat up and stretched as his stomach growled. Iruka had been gone a while, and in light of Kakashi's softer side, he was a little worried that the dark haired boy had gotten lost again. Getting up, he dusted off his pants and headed off in the direction Iruka had gone to find food. He figured he might have to do the foraging at this rate if Iruka couldn't pull off something edible.   
  
He yawned once more as he walked easily along the edge of the lake, and put his hands behind his head in laziness. Even though he was worried, he didn't want it to look that way when he actually did find Iruka. Happening to glance down, something caught his eye, and he stopped to get a better look at what it was. Leaning forward a little he suddenly realized that it was Iruka's clothes...and they were very obviously not on his person.  
  
Kakashi's first instinct was to blush at the obvious explanation to Iruka's clothing mystery. That being he was running around here naked. 'Why the hell is he running around naked in the forest?' Kakakshi's mind demanded. The blush deepened as more thoughts entered his perverted mind, most of them fueled by the perverted books that he so treasured. Trying to keep his thoughts away from the perverted ones, Kakashi was startled when a loud splash and a 'whoop' of victory came from his left.  
  
His head snapped over almost unconsciously to look at the source of the noises, and blushed even more as he spotted Iruka floating there holding a wriggling fish in his hands. "Yeah I actually got one!" Iruka cried, congratulating himself on a job well done.  
  
Kakashi blinked, then his one visible eye went wide, he was very, very glad for his habit of wearing a mask, for it hid his red face as he flushed for some reason. It wasn't like he han't seen another naked male before...come on, they had public baths back at the village. But the sight of Iruka...naked Iruka...caused butterflies to invade Kakashi's stomach, and all the blood to rush to his face.  
  
Reaching up to pull his mask a little higher up on his face to hide any visible redness that might be seen, Kakashi decided he had to do something before Iruka climbed out of the lake in all his...well nakedness. He cleared his throat and Iruka glanced up to see him. "Oh, Kakashi, look, I caught a fish!" Iruka cried happily, totally unaware of the turmoil going on in Kakashi's mind.  
  
Kakashi nodded, trying to think of something, then it clicked, "That's good, now why don't you catch about 3 more and we can have a decent breakfast?" Actually, it was more like brunch now but who cared? Iruka tossed the fish to shore and dove under the water, obviously having a grand old time swimming around in the buff.  
  
Kakashi watched the water where Iruka had disappeared for a moment without realizing it, then with an extreme show of will power wrenched his eyes away and instead focused on the fish flopping on the shore. Reaching down, he picked it up and decided he could keep his mind occupied by preparing it for cooking while Iruka was down there getting more...  
  
He located a large flat rock not to far away, dusted it off, and pulled out a small throwing dagger and began gutting and cleaning the fish. All the while, he was trying to keep his mind on the FISH and not swimming with the fishes in the water nearby. Kakashi felt his ears go warm this time when he thought of Iruka in the water...swimming ...naked... he was so confused. 'Why the hell am I thinking of HIM, and like THAT of all things?!' He demanded of himself.  
  
TBC...  
  
Hmm…what are these evil thoughts that are plaguing Kakashi? More importantly…can Kakashi keep his mind out of the gutter? …umm, probably not…and how will Iruka survive Kakashi's special tutoring? Now that is an interesting question…keep reading and find out!   
  
Thanks to all you reviewers! We will now answer some of your questions, yay!   
  
Although Kakashi's gutter mind might put Iruka in a French maid apron…I really don't think he could get the dolphin to go along with it '  
  
Sorry that chapter 3 was a little sad, but hopefully this one will make you happy again   
  
Please review! Let us know what you think 


	5. Chapter 5

Corn Fields and Coral Reefs   
  
see original summary, disclaimers, and warnings on the first chapter  
  
Chapter #5  
  
Kakashi located a large flat rock not to fare away, dusting it off Kakashi pulled out a small throwing dagger and began gutting and cleaning the fish. All the wail, trying to keep his attention on the FISH and not swimming with the fishes in water near by. Kakashi felt his ears go worm this time when he thought of Iruka in the water...swimming...necked... Kakashi was so confused. 'Why the hell am I thinking of HIM, and like THAT or all things?!'   
  
Kakashi tried one last time to purge the image from his mind, all the while working away at the fish with his knife, cutting it in half. 'Damn it, what the hell is wrong with me?' he asked himself as his mind once more started to wander...this time however, he was rudely brought back to the here and now by a sharp pain in his hand. Looking down he found that his knife was now embedded in a long cut on his hand. He swore and dropped the knife, rushing to the water to dip his hand in.  
  
Iruka poked his head up out of the water, having successfully caught another fish, just in time to see Kakashi jump up and thrust his injured hand into the shallow lake water. Clutching the wriggling fish lightly in his hands, Iruka kicked his feet, pushing himself towards Kakashi to see what was wrong. When he reached waist deep water he placed his feet down and called to Kakashi.   
  
"Are you all right?"  
  
"I...cut my hand." Kakashi answered, refusing to look up at him in such close proximity in the water.  
  
Iruka blinked. Kakashi did not seem the type to be clumsy enough or spacey enough to actually cut himself by accident, but the blood seeping from Kakashi's hand into the water was certainly proof that he had. Tossing the second fish on shore, Iruka came forward slightly. "Let me see..." He reached out for Kakashi's hand and Kakashi recoiled like he'd been shot.  
  
Kakashi's eyes were wide, and that gave him a good look at Iruka's torso, dripping with water. He wasn't sure if he was thankful or disappointed that Iruka was standing so that even in this shallow water Kakashi could not see lower. He mentally berated himself for not pulling his hand away quick enough from Iruka's grasp. So now he was stuck there...again Kakashi was unsure it this was a good thing or not.  
  
As the butterflies went wild in Kakashi's stomach and his mind reeled, Iruka, who had no idea any this was happening on his account, pulled Kakashi's hand towards him to get a good look at it. If there was one thing he knew about, that was how to fix accidental wounds...he was a bit clumsy after all, especially in his role as class clown. "Ouch, it's kinda deep..." he said, and looked around. "You didn't bring a first aid kit, did you?" he asked, and Kakashi shook his head, not daring to speak.  
  
Iruka put Kakashi's hand back into the water, "Keep that there for a moment," he ordered Kakashi and stood up, quickly going to his pile of clothing to pull on his boxers before taking his shirt and ripping a strip of fabric off. It was from along the bottom, so his shirt was going to survive. Rushing back to Kakashi, he took the older boy's hand out of the water and began wrapping it with the fabric.   
  
Kakashi was relieved that at least Iruka was now wearing shorts...although that still meant that the rest of his body was exposed, so he just focused on his hand, and the fabric being tightly wrapped around it...part of Iruka's own shirt, it would seem...great, now he had some of the guy's clothing attached to him, how was he supposed to get him out of his mind now?   
  
Iruka finished wrapping the hand and tied the makeshift bandage into a little knot. "There that should stop the bleeding." He diagnosed.  
  
Kakashi was able to get his vocal cords working again, and was allowed to say thanks without squeaking, although it did come out gruffer then he intended. Iruka blushed and ducked his head, to him it didn't sound like Kakashi really cared that Iruka had helped him. Well, he probably didn't, when Iruka thought about it, he was just a brat to Kakahshi, he'd said it himself the day before.  
  
"I guess we'll have to make due with two fish, is that alright?" Iruka asked, walking past Kakashi and picking up his clothing from the ground.  
  
Kakashi didn't stand up, but nodded his head. "Yeah, sure." he answered, trying to keep his words short. He was afraid of what his voice might betray. Iruka, however, heard it like Kakashi felt that he was a disappointment, and sighed inwardly.  
  
'Of course Kakashi wouldn't want someone fussing over him for something as non life threatening as a cut.' Iruka thought as he pulled his shirt over his head. 'His eye probably hurt more when it was injured, but I bet he just went on with the mission like any other good ninja.' Pulling his pants on, Iruka took up the task of cleaning the fish as Kakashi went to get some firewood.  
  
Iruka finished cleaning the fish Kakashi had cut himself over and started gutting the second one, brooding miserably. His good mood from just moments before was apparently gone. He didn't know what he had expected from the silver haired ninja...at the very least he had hoped that he might become less antagonistic...and maybe he could have been Iruka's first and only friend. Somehow, however, he'd managed to ruin it, like everything else in his life.  
  
Unbeknownst to Iruka, Kakashi's avoidance of him was completely different than what the younger boy thought. Kakashi sighed and rested his head against a tree, he was far enough into the woods now that he was basically alone. He closed his eyes and for one moment of guilty pleasure, remembered Iruka's touch against his hand as he'd wrapped the bandage. Coming to his senses, Kakashi blushed, 'Why am I thinking like this?' He sighed, bewildered. He knew he was out of his league, just as he knew deep down he was attracted to Iruka. But he was still having trouble figuring that part of it out.  
  
He opened his eyes again and looked down at his injured hand, the dark bandage ripped from the hem of Iruka's shirt tied tightly around it...to Kakashi it felt almost comforting, like something warm and inviting, never mind the fact that his hand was throbbing with pain under it. 'Is there something wrong with me?' he asked himself. He knew this was definitely not normal...but then again...He shook his head. No, he was not going to think about it anymore.  
  
Sighing, Kakashi finished his task of collecting wood and headed back to the beach. He found Iruka sitting beside the water's edge looking kinda depressed, with a little pout on his lips, and Kakashi couldn't stop himself from thinking he was so cute like that. Smacking himself mentally again, he tried to remind himself that when a person looks like that they're usually depressed about something.  
  
"Something wrong?" Kakashi asked, dropping the wood to the ground in a random location...he'd never been too interested in the wood anyway. When Iruka didn't answer, Kakashi took a deep breath to calm his nerves and squatted down next to him. "Hey..." He poked him in the arm in an attempt to get a response.  
  
Iruka sighed and looked at Kakashi from over his shoulder, he looked upset and a little sad. "I'm sorry if I've upset you, Kakashi." he said, feeling like a child.   
  
Kakashi blinked, he had not been expecting Iruka to apologize, and for some reason it only made him look cuter. Which caused Kakashi to question his sanity...or at lest his preference in regards to what gender he was attracted to.  
  
Kakashi blushed and looked down at the ground, scratching random designs in the sand. "You didn't upset me." He said at last. He didn't know what all of this meant but he did know if Iruka continued to look so cute pouting, something bad was going to happen. It wasn't exactly true...Iruka was upsetting him but it wasn't his fault.   
  
"B-but..." Iruka started, sure that he had upset him in some way.  
  
Kakashi sighed and looked at his hand, "I...I was just upset that I cut myself." he said hoping that Iruka would buy into his lie. "I'm supposed to be a top ninja and it was really stupid of me."   
  
Iruka actually looked a little relieved and smiled, "Oh...that's good.." he said, which made Kakashi's heart melt.  
  
Kakashi blushed and looked away before Iruka noticed. "I uh...got the wood, do you have the fish ready?" he asked, and Iruka nodded.  
  
"Yup, all clean and ready to cook." he answered, and pointed to his handiwork on the flat rock  
  
Kakashi smiled as he saw Iruka's job well done, then, so he could distract himself from all kinds of thoughts that were going through his mind, he built up a fire, and by using a little chi the silver haired ninja had it going in no time at all. Iruka's stomach growled as the smell of fish filled the air.   
  
"Mehhh, Kakashi, is it done yet?" Iruka complained, trying to look over Kakashi's shoulder to see the fish cooking, since Kakashi was pretty much hunched over the fire like a mother hen, nursing the fish to perfection. Kakashi, who was having a hard time keeping his sanity in this situation, pushed him away.  
  
"Not yet, stop being a pest." He told him, but smiled anyway. It seemed that Iruka had stopped pouting and had started enjoying himself. And it seemed to have been a long time since Iruka could just have fun and not worry about weather someone was watching or not.   
  
That was the good part, in Iruka's opinion, even though they were all alone out in the wilderness, Iruka didn't feel as lonely or isolated as he had before. He really was enjoying Kakashi's company, a lot more than anyone would have guessed, including Kakashi himself.  
  
While waiting for the fish to cook, Iruka busied himself by balancing on some pieces of driftwood on the beach. He felt so much better being out here...and he didn't seem to be as clumsy as usual, he was able to balance on the wood easily, as if the ability had been inside of him all along. He was starting to wonder if this tutoring thing might not be so bad after all...maybe he really could be a good student...maybe his teachers were right, he just had to find the interest and apply himself.  
  
Although he was good at this, however, Iruka didn't think he wanted to become a top ninja like Kakashi was, or his parents were for that matter. Feeling a little bad that he was betraying their memory, he looked back over his shoulder at Kakashi, who was watching him more than the fish apparently, because they were now on fire.  
  
"Ack! Kakashi, the fish!" Iruka cried desperately, and Kakashi blinked, seemingly coming back to his senses. Looking over at the fish he gasped and beat the fire out with his cooking utensil. Iruka walked over and the two of them stared at the slightly blackened fish for a moment. Kakashi looked up at him apologetically. "Uh...I think they're done now." he told Iruka.  
  
Iruka couldn't stop the laughter that suddenly escaped him. Kakashi's sheepish look was so unlike the ninja's normal bored expression that Iruka just couldn't help it.  
  
Kakashi looked at him like he could not fathom what Iruka was laughing at. "What?" he asked, confused.  
  
"You just looked funny, that's all." Iruka answered between laughs. "I guess you do have a human side after all." He grinned and reached over to pluck a peice of the fish off and pop it into his mouth. Kakashi stared at him and the grin plastered across his face. It made him feel good that he could illicit such a response from Iruka but it only added to his confused state of mind...he didn't know what to think.  
  
"Hey, it's still good, lets eat." Iruka exclaimed.  
  
Kakashi picked up the other blackened fish, and as Iruka watched him, something occurred to him. "Umm...how are you planning on eating that?" he ventured to ask, for since they'd met Iruka had not even seen the guy's face. If he wanted to keep it hidden, of course, that was okay, but it would make eating a little awkward.  
  
"It's not that difficult..." Kakashi answered, and grabbed ahold of his mask with one hand. As Iruka watched intently, he pulled the mask down and off his face, revealing his mouth so that he could eat. He took a bite of the fish and chewed, wondering where the weird question had come from.  
  
Iruka stared at him in shock, a pink colour slowly rising to his cheeks. Kakashi's face was so...well...pretty!   
  
Kakashi blinked, noticing Iruka blush, and swallowed his mouthful of fish. "Is there something wrong?" He asked, not knowing the cause of Iruka's redness.   
  
If possible, Iruka's face turned even redder. "Umm...it's just that you're...you're so pretty." Iruka answered, then ducked his head, feeling even more embarrassed. He had just called his tutor 'pretty', and his male tutor at that!  
  
Kakashi's heart did a flip-flop in his chest and his face heated up to what had to be about one hundred degrees as he stared at the blushing, embarrassed Iruka. Did he just hear what he thought he had? If he did, what did it mean? His mind spun with the possibilities.  
  
"I-I am?" he managed to choke out, his voice slightly high pitched from shock.  
  
Iruka blushed even harder and he nodded his head vigorously, keeping his eyes fixed downwards on his fish. He had not meant to say THAT...well at least not out loud. Hoping that Kakashi wasn't mad at him, Iruka peeked through his wet bangs at the red faced silver haired ninja.   
  
"Uhh...Thank you..." Kakashi managed to say at last, and returned to his fish.  
  
Iruka blinked. Thank you? Did that mean that Kakashi wasn't angry with him? Well whatever the case may be, he didn't want to alienate the silver haired ninja, he was actually enjoying his company. But he didn't know what to say to make his blunder better so he changed the subject. "So...um...why do you wear the mask anyway?" he asked, still feeling embarrassed.  
  
Kakashi finished the last bit of fish and grinned at Iruka. "It's so I look more mysterious and cool." He answered, holding up a finger as if that made any relevance whatsoever.   
  
Iruka blinked, "Cool?" he had to ask, not believing that a top ninja of Kakashi's age had to do anything to look or act 'Cool'  
  
"Yup, cool...kind of like...your topknot." He pointed to Iruka's head. Iruka looked confused.   
  
"But my topknot isn't cool..." He blinked at Kakashi. "The boys at school like to use it to hang me onto things..." Kakashi suddenly felt a deep resentment towards that group of boys he had scared away the first day he'd met Iruka, although where it came from he really didn't want to know.  
  
He picked up stick and threw it into the fire. "Is that so?" he asked.   
  
Iruka blinked. Why did Kakashi sound a little...mad? Upset? But not knowing the answer, he just nodded his head to Kakashi's question. "Yeah, I always get picked on by the older boys. They say its 'cause I need to be taught a lesson...or that I bug the hell out of them. Either way I'm the one who gets picked on." Sighing unhappily. he looked back into the fire.  
  
Kakashi looked at his sad face and resolved that the next time he saw those boys he was going to personally teach them a lesson...but somehow he knew that wasn't going to help. He opened his mouth to say something to Iruka, who laughed and held up his hands.  
  
"I know what your going to say...I have to learn how to stick up for myself, right?" He smiled a bit sadly. "I've tried...believe me I've tried...but it just never seems to work that well."  
  
Kakashi sighed, that was not what he was going to say...actually he hadn't a clue just what he'd intended to say but he was sure that wasn't it. After a moment he got up on impulse and sat down beside Iruka, then reached over and ruffled his damp hair. "Not everyone is cut out to be a strong ninja you know." He told the boy, "Some of us are really good at reconnaissance or attacking. Some are good at both, some neither."  
  
Iruka looked over at him, sligtly surprised that he was showing such interest in his welfare. "But...what about those of us who are good at neither? What are we supposed to do?"  
  
Kakashi thought about it for a second. "Well, I guess you find out what it is that you're good at and go for that." he answered. "Got anything that your good at, kid?"  
  
Blinking in confusion, Iruka opened his mouth then closed it again. He had spent so much time thinking about what he wasn't good at that he couldn't remember what he was good at. "I-I don't know," he told Kakashi honestly, "I...I like being out here with you, its peaceful..." Finding himself blushing again, Iruka dropped his eyes, "I mean i-it's umm I ..." Iruka pulled his knees to his chest, embarrassed.  
  
Kakashi watched him stutter nervously and had the hugest urge to just grab him and hold onto him...it was an urge he had to seriously resist, and instead he reached over and patted Iruka on the shoulder. "I know what you mean," he told the other boy. "I haven't had a peaceful day like this in... Well quite a while, I'm always so busy." He blushed a little when Iruka looked over at him. "Tell you what, for now I'll just try to teach you some things and maybe you will find something that you're good at, how's that?" he offered.  
  
Iruka smiled and held out his hand, and Kakashi willingly clasped it, sealing the agreement. Still holding onto his hand, Kakashi prolonged the release by standing up and taking Iruka with him. "Good, how about we start right now?" he asked and pulled up his mask again.   
  
Several days later, at the academy, Iruka's class was just sitting down and the instructor was clearing the blackboard of the previous days work, feeling slightly troubled. Iruka hadn't shown up at school for the past couple of days, and Kakashi hadn't been anywhere to be found either. It was all very odd... He stopped when he heard the door open and looked up to see Iruka wander in, looking rather bruised up, but with a grin on his face.  
  
The bruises were enough to alarm the teacher, but the grin only confused him. "Iruka?" he asked, not sure if he was hallucinating or not, but since the rest of the class had turned to stare at Iruka in shock, he knew he was not the only one.   
  
Rubbing a lump on the back of his head Iruka looked sheepish. "Sorry I'm late sensei...and sorry for not being here the past few days."  
  
The instructor stared at him for a moment, then stepped forward, taking his arm and leading him out the door. "Excuse us for a second, class..." He told his students, and then shut the door. "Good god, Iruka what happened to you?" He asked, eying the many bruises, cuts, and dirt on Iruka's person.  
  
Iruka rubbed at one of the small cuts he'd received while Kakashi had been training him in the forest. "Kakashi was tutoring me...in the forest...for about..umm today's Wednesday, so abut 5 days." Iruka said as he remembered the long and painful, but enjoyable 5 days he had spent with Kakashi. He had learned so much about himself during that time...he might not be the strongest person, but he was not weak and he soaked up information like a sponge.   
  
The instructor stared at him, and Iruka smiled back, despite how tired he looked and how painful his bruises and cuts must be. "Why didn't you tell me?" the instructor demanded at last.  
  
"Well...Kakashi kind of kidnapped me..." he answered, and if possible the instructor's eyes widened even more.  
  
Then something occurred to Iruka. "Umm I take it that Kakashi didn't tell you?" he ventured. When his teacher nodded his head and looked sternly at Iruka, he blushed and dropped his gaze. His teacher thought it might be in shame, but Iruka was trying to keep the ironic smile form appearing on his face. Kakashi was, of course, a person who usually acted on impulse.  
  
"What did Kakashi...teach you?" the instructor asked at length, and Iruka still didn't look up. By the tone of his voice the instructor probably didn't want to see the smile that he was having a hard time wiping from his face.   
  
"Oh...lots of things...how to aim at a target, things like that." He answered. Actually the training had been quite a bit more intensive than that but he wasn't sure if Kakashi would get into trouble or not so he was trying to downsize it as much as possible.  
  
His instructor nodded his head, his mouth set into a thin line of worry. "Why don't you go to the nurses office and get patched up before you go to class..." He suggested...or more accurately ordered Iruka to go. Iruka hung his head and meekly drug his feet to the nurse's office. Sighing, his teacher re-entered his classroom, which was in the middle of a paper fight.  
  
Iruka entered the nurse's office and the nurse came out to ask what was the matter...her question died before it ever left her lips, however, and she ordered him to sit on a little bed while she collected bandages, and medicines for cleaning his cuts. "You kids these days...when will you learn that roughhousing doesn't pay?" she tittered at him, and Iruka couldn't help but smile.  
  
"And wipe that smirk off your face, mister!" she ordered him while applying some ointment to a bruise on his cheek. Iruka did his best to hide the smile, but it was hard. He really felt proud of himself, and that in it-self was a rare occasion these days. Wincing a little as she cleaned the cuts and scrapes, Iruka wondered how Kakashi's eye was doing. He was supposed to have the bandage off today...which was why Iruka was back in school and not still out in the woods practicing.  
  
At last, Iruka was bandaged up with what had to be a hundred tiny white bandages, some of them stuck to his face, and the nurse proclaimed that he was free to go and warned him about the dangers of horseplay. Iruka scratched at a bandage on his arm as he exited the room into the hallway...it was better when they were just out in the open, now he felt conspicuous.  
  
Iruka rounded the corner on his way back to his classroom when something loud and green practically ran him over. "YOU!" the loud green thing cried, pointing at Iruka who cringed. This guy's eyebrows were scary... "You're the kid Kakashi's been training!" he yelled dramatically. "Where's Kakashi?!"   
  
TBC...  
  
Hmmm… ten guesses who this person is' Yeah like you need ten…But anyway, Iruka's back in school! He's like a completely different person, what did Kakashi do to him out there in the wilderness?  
  
Thank you reviewers! Thank you, thank you! bow bow  
  
We would like to point out that even though Kakashi is a pervert, he's never actually been in love before...well as far as we know... It's kinda hard to recognize love when you've never experienced it before and when it sneaks up on you suddenly it can actually be kinda scary. Especially when the person you're falling for is of the same gender.  
  
Plus he's probably never even considered the possibility of being with another male before...we assume all of his dirty books feature male/female romances…considering who writes them ' And if you don't know who writes them yet, we shall keep quiet about that'  
  
And no, we didn't go and have those two do anything important while we were skipping time' Kakashi and Iruka's relationship is going to be a slow and grueling process. So if your looking for a quick fling here we're sorry  
  
Please review! We love getting reviews! 


	6. Chapter 6

Corn Fields and Coral Reefs   
  
see original summary, disclaimers, and warnings on the first chapter  
  
Chapter #6  
  
Iruka rounded the corner on his way back to his classroom when something loud and green practically ran him over. "YOU!" the loud green thing cried, pointing at Iruka who cringed. This guy's eyebrows were scary... "You're the kid Kakashi's been training!" he yelled dramatically. "Where's Kakashi?!"  
  
Iruka blinked at him. There was something seriously wrong with this guy...he was just scary.   
  
"Um...he's at the hospital getting his bandage taken off...." Iruka answered, just wanting this weird scary person to go away  
  
"Damn you Kakashi!" The green guy cried dramatically, fire in his eyes. Without another word he disappeared around the corner at what had to be the speed of light.  
  
"That...was weird..." Iruka said to himself.  
  
Now that the encounter with the green clad big eye-bowed guy was over, Iruka resumed walking to his destination. Slipping into the back of the class, Iruka found an empty seat and for once he didn't notice the people around him as he tried to pick up what the teacher had been talking about. Well he didn't notice anyone, that is, until someone sat heavily in the seat beside him.  
  
Glancing up, he found that one of the bullies that always bothered him had sat down at the desk next to him, apparently unseen by the instructor, who was busy writing on the chalkboard.  
  
"What do you want?" Iruka whispered, narrowing his eyes.  
  
"Ooooh, likkle Iruka grew a spine, did he?" The bully whispered back, an evil smirk crossing his face.  
  
The bully wasn't much bigger then Iruka, and he didn't seem nearly as threatening as before, but he wasn't alone. Glancing around the room, Iruka noticed the other bullies had literally scared people out of their seats and had taken them. Knowing that he wasn't strong enough to take them all on at once, Iruka meekly ducked his head...old habits died hard and he was already so bruised and bandaged, that he really didn't want to add any more to his collection.  
  
The head bully smirked and reached over to grab Iruka's face and forced him to look at him. "Looks like your boyfriend isn't here to save you this time...what are you gonna do?" The bully asked in a tone that told Iruka that for some reason he was definitely in trouble this time. Iruka's eyes widened and he tried to say something, but the way the bully was holding onto his face made it difficult.  
  
An evil little glint sparkled in the bully's eye, "What, poor Iruka can't say anything? Cat got your tounge?" he asked. Iruka's face was flushed with anger but he couldn't say or do anything as they teased him. The bully pulled Iruka's face closer and lowered his voice. "Or maybe you're just waiting till we let our guard down so you can use some new ninjustu on us, hummm? Did Kakashi teach you any new tricks while you were away?"  
  
The bully's friends sniggered at this comment and if possible the bully's expression became even more threatening. Suddenly, however, his eyes widened, and the giggling stopped immediately The bully let go of Irukas face as he was rudely lifted off the ground, arms flailing desperately.   
  
"You pieces of shit don't know when to quit, do you?" A voice said dangerously, and Iruka looked up to see Kakashi holding up the bully with a distinctly angry look on his face.  
  
The bandage was off, but Iruka still couldn't see his eye because his head-band was pulled down over it. Forgetting about the bully that still dangled form Kakashi's grip, Iruka flung his arms around Kakashi. "Kakashi, your eye?!" he asked, panicking. He couldn't think of a reason why Kakashi would still cover his eye if the bandage was off, not unless it had been scarred horribly or he couldn't see out of it.   
  
Kakashi blushed red as he felt Iruka's arms wrap around him and heard the concern in his voice, and he almost forgot what it was he was doing. In any event, the look that had so frightened the bully he was still holding up was gone, but for the bully's part...and really for everyone else in the room, all was silence. Come on, Iruka was holding onto Kakashi's waist, what was everyone supposed to think?  
  
Iruka let go of Kakashi's waist not noticing the strange looks he was getting, "Is your eye okay?" he asked, a little worried. He did not want to think that it was his fault Kakashi was out in the woods when he should have been in the hospital to prevent some kind of horrible infection.   
  
Seeing Iruka's concern, Kakashi grinned, "It's fine, I just thought I would look cooler like this." he explained.  
  
The instructor turned around at this point to see what chaos his classroom had erupted into. "What's going on here?" he demanded angrily, slamming his book on his desk. "What are all you people doing in my classroom? Kakashi, put that boy down this instant!"  
  
"Oh sure, he looks over now but can't bother to notice when Iruka's being bullied." Kakashi muttered darkly and put the bully back on his feet. "Touch him again and I promise you'll be sorry." He whispered in a voice only the bully could hear.  
  
The bully turned very pale, but was allowed to leave with his limbs intact, something that he and his friends were going to take advantage of. Seeing that most of the intruders were now gone, the teacher turned to Kakashi. "I would like to talk to you after class, but for now I would appreciate it if you allow me to continue." he said while keeping an eye on Iruka. Something was very different about him after his excretion in the woods.  
  
Kakashi nodded at the teacher and turned to go, but Iruka grabbed hold of his arm, delaying him. "Kakashi, some green guy was looking for you, I think he ran off to the hospital..."  
  
Kakashi groaned and rubbed his forehead. Gai. That was the last thing he needed. "Of course he was..." Kakashi muttered, and ruffled Iruka's hair in parting. "Thanks. I'll be back after class." With that he shoved his hands in his pockets and left the classroom.  
  
Iruka sighed as he saw his teacher's stern look pointed in his direction. Quickly taking his seat again, Iruka shifted uncomfortably and noticed some of the stares he was getting from his classmates. He was used to people looking at him oddly, but that was really only when he was trying to get their attention. Why were they focusing so much on him now? It was weird. Clearing his throat, Iruka's teacher resumed the lesson.  
  
Kakashi wandered down the streets, in the opposite direction from the hospital. Gai was the last person he wanted to see right now...that kid was just irritating in every conceivable way. Plus he seemed to think they were rivals in everything.   
  
His mind, being totally out of his own control these days, wandered back in time to the classroom, and Iruka's arms wrapped around him. He felt his face grow hot and he cursed in his mind. Instead of getting better now that the ordeal in the woods was over, these thoughts were just getting worse.  
  
Kakashi soon found himself staring up at the monuments of the four Hokages. The new monument to the fourth hokage had been finished a year before the last hokage had to sacrifice his life for the village. No one had foreseen that fateful day the fox would come to their village... Kakashi sighed as he stared up at the monument of his former teacher. If only he could sort out his feelings about Iruka.  
  
The fourth he could have asked...he could have asked him about anything, even if at the time Kakashi had been too impatient with becoming a ninja to bother with these kinds of things. "Damn it..." Kakashi rubbed his forehead. He felt so, exhausted, exhilarated...he didn't know what he felt like. Everything else in his life had seemed straightforward but this...  
  
This...this was like being in a rat trying to find the cheese at the end of the maze. He cared for Iruka...Kakashi knew that, but his feelings were growing deeper then he himself would care to admit. He really had nothing to compare his relationship with Iruka either, was he really just a close friend? But then why did he blush, and his stomach do summersaults on him whenever the boy so much as smiled at him? Even deep in thought, Kakashi could feel the presences of another approach him. Turning around Kakashi was met with a pair of dark eyes set against a pale complexion. "Hello Itachi."  
  
"Kakashi." Itachi answered. That kid could be so freaky sometimes (especially for an 8 year old Oo), Kakashi thought to himself. "If you don't mind my asking, why are you standing in the middle of the road?" Itachi asked, stepping forward. He too looked up at the Hokage heads but didn't seem like he needed any advice from them or anything like Kakashi seemed to.  
  
Itachi brushed his hair back from his face as Kakashi smiled and laughed, "Oh just thinking about the meaning of life." he answered.   
  
Itachi looked kind of annoyed and glared at Kakashi with his red eyes, "I see you too have received the sharingan...too bad it's just a transplant." Itachi pointed out in contempt. But that was Itachi for you, the snooty little Uchiha heir, pride and joy of the Uchiha family.  
  
Without realizing it, his eyes had narrowed into a glare at Itachi, and his stuck up nature. Itachi also glared at Kakashi, probably thinking he wasn't fit to have the eye that was given to him. Silence fell over the two as they tried to hate each other to death.  
  
"Itachi!" A small voice cried happily and an equally small figure glommed onto Itachi's leg, grinning happily up at him.  
  
Itachi glared down at the burr that had attached himself to his leg. "Sasuke-chan." he said, sounding not amused. Sasuke grinned up at his brother and laughed a little before detaching himself. Kakashi couldn't help but snicker as Itachi's little brother managed to lower his height and mighty image just by being there. With his mission accomplished, Sasuke turned to Kakashi and attached himself to his leg instead, "Kakashi!" he cried happily.   
  
"Hey, little man, what's up?" Kakashi reached down and ruffled the kid's hair, an action that had become too familiar in the past week.  
  
Little Sasuke grinned up at him. "Nuthin, can I read your book today?" He asked.  
  
"Hmmm, not till your older." Kakashi winked at him. Itachi made a disgusting sort of growl and turned away, his cape flapping slightly. Kakashi and Sasuke giggled to each other, and Itachi stormed off.  
  
Kakashi grinned down at the young Uchiha, they got along quite well, considering Itachi liked to boss Sauske around, and Kakashi liked to annoy the Uchiha heir to no end, it was a good training for them both. Kakashi had actually only met Sasuke about two weeks ago, although Itachi he had known earlier. When Kakashi lost his eye it had been one of the recently deceased Uchiha relatives that he had received his sharingan from, and in Sasuke's young mind that made him practically family.  
  
Kakashi sat down on a nearby bench and Sasuke happily planted himself on the silver haired ninja's knee. "Ni-chan..." Sasuke said at length, and Kakashi smiled at him.   
  
"Yeah, Sasuke-chan?" he asked.  
  
"How come you seem sad?" Little Sasuke asked, twisting his head upside down so that he could see Kakashi's face.  
  
Kakashi laughed to cover his embarrassment, how did this kid see right through him? With the young Uchiha on his knee, Kakashi ruffled his hair, "I'm sure you're going to find out when you're older." He answered as best as he could considering he could not answer the question himself...how was he going to explain it to this child? Sasuke pouted, which made him look too adorable for words...yeah he could see it now, Sasuke was going to break hearts when he got older.  
  
"but Niiiii-chan, can't I help?" Sasuke whined, looking even more adorable. Forget breaking hearts this kid was going to have a flock of women after him.  
  
"'Fraid not, kid." Kakashi answered. "I'm gonna have to figure this one out on my own." he smiled reassuringly at the kid, who nodded and turned back to look at the street. Kakashi sighed. If he didn't figure this one out soon he was going to go mad, he was sure of it.  
  
After sitting there in silence for a while, something occurred to Kakashi. "Sasuke?" he asked the young boy, who craned his head back to look at Kakashi,   
  
"Yes?" he asked sweetly.   
  
"Your starting preschool this year aren't you?" Sasuke nodded his head in response. "...Then shouldn't you be in school?"   
  
Sasuke shook his head and grinned. "Nope, the blonde kid filled the room up with water so Sensei said we could go home." He explained happily.  
  
"Blonde kid...?" Kakashi asked...something about that tugged at his mind.  
  
"Yeah his name's Naruto, he's always gettin into trouble." Sasuke answered  
  
If anything it sounded like Sasuke wished he had come up with the idea to flood the classroom, and not this Naruto. Kakashi tried to place were he had heard the name before...he knew he had, but it was hard thinking when his mind was so full of Iruka. A bird flew overhead and Kakashi watched it, trying to think. When his eyes rested on the stone bust of the 4th Kakashi's eye widened. How could he have forgotten about Naruto?  
  
So, the kid that had the nine tails fox sealed inside of him was attending school as well...and apparently he was a prankster. Kakashi smiled a little, thinking how fitting it was...  
  
"Do you like Naruto?" Kakashi asked Sasuke. He knew the popular opinion about the young boy was not a positive one, and it was probably going to seep into the children's mind as well.  
  
"...Mom and dad say I shouldn't play with him." Sasuke answered, pouting a little.  
  
It was obvious to Kakashi that Sasuke would like nothing better then to get in on the pranking with Naruto. And being the younger Uchiha brother, people tended to ignore Sasuke whenever his brother was around, and that included his parents. It wouldn't hurt either of them in Kakashi's opinion if they got together and formed some kind of friendship, even if it was just to flood schoolrooms.   
  
Kakashi placed a hand on Sasuke's head and Sasuke glanced up questioningly. "You know..." Kakashi started, with a wink. "As long as your parents don't know about it, who says you can't be friends with Naruto, huh?" he said. Maybe luck would smile on at least one orphan child and give him a friend...  
  
"Really?" Grinning happily at his words, Sasuke jumped off Kakashi's lap and hugged the ninja before running off back to the Uchiha mansion, waving goodbye. Kakashi smiled as Sasuke ran home, he knew the kid was lonely for a friend but no one seemed to be able to see that.   
  
But now that Sasuke was gone Kakashi was once again left with his own problems...speaking of which, it should be about lunchtime and he could only think of one person he wanted to spend lunch with.  
  
Iruka sighed and wandered outside, his stomach growling at him. After five days of being in the wilderness with Kakashi most of Iruka's food had gone bad, and he'd eaten the last of it that morning for breakfast, hoping that if he ate enough he woudln't be hungry by lunchtime. As it was he was very hungry and totally without a lunch. Not to mention that class had seemed so much more boring than usual, even though he'd tried so hard to pay attention.  
  
Not to mention some of his classmates had suddenly taken to snickering behind their hands as he walked by...and it wasn't like he was trying to draw attention to himself at that moment so it was rather odd...as well as annoying in his opinion. Iruka wandered over to the treed area on the academy grounds and tried to ignore his growling stomach as he sat under a tree for shade. There was no one else around so he couldn't even beg for some lunch.  
  
Not that anyone would give him any even if he did. His stomach growled again and he groaned and closed his eyes.  
  
"Hungry?" A familiar voice asked, and Iruka's eyes flew open to find Kakashi sitting next to him, not looking at him but holding out a boxed lunch that looked like it had been purchased from a store. If Iruka had looked hard enough he would have seen the blush that just peeked over Kakashi's black mask.  
  
But instead he was drooling over the food that Kakashi had offered him, "YES! Thanks!" he said smiling his thanks to Kakashi, before inhaling his food. Kakashi smiled beneath his mask before pulling it down to eat.   
  
After Iruka's stomach was no longer at war with him, he looked at Kakashi again with concern. "Is your eye really okay?" he asked, hoping that Kakashi would show him even if it was ugly.  
  
Kakashi stopped eating and reached up to gently touch the headband pushed down over his eye. "It's...fine, don't worry." He answered. To tell the truth, he'd hidden it because he didn't want Iruka to look at it and think he was strange...he was still getting used to what it looked like himself.  
  
Iruka frowned in worry, he felt like there was something wrong. "Can I see it?" he asked. "Please?"  
  
That 'Please' did it, Kakashi melted under it...he didn't have the backbone to stand up to Iruka's puppy dog face, even if Iruka didn't realize that he was doing it. Sighing, Kakashi shifted a little so he was facing Iruka, and pushed his headband up, reveling his sharingan eye. Iruka blinked and leaned closer to get a better look at the red iris. Kakashi kept perfectly still, willing the blush not to appear on his face with Iruka this close.  
  
"Isn't that a..." Iruka started, when suddenly a hasty cry of 'Watch out!' came from the game field. A renegade ball struck Iruka in the back of the head and he pitched forward suddenly, right into Kakashi's arms. The two boys' lips pressed together and for a brief moment both of them saw stars...Iruka possibly because he'd been hit on the head with a soccer ball. Realizing their situation, they hastily pulled apart, staring at each other, both with extremely red faces and wide eyes.  
  
A few moments later someone came running up to see who they had hit. Iruka was holding his head trying to not see double as a blonde three year old latched onto his arm, asking if he was okay.   
  
Kakakshi felt something warm trickle out of his nose and, realzing that he had a nosebleed, he pinched his nose to stop the blood flow.   
  
Iruka muttered something unintelligible, and the little blonde boy freaked out. "I'm so sorry, mister, please be ok, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Iruka closed his eyes for a minute to stop the world from spinning, and when he was feeling better, he opened them and focused on the kid, who had familiar little lines on each cheek. With big puppy dog eyes the kid looked at him. "Are you ok, mister?" he asked.  
  
To say the kid was adorable was an understatement, what with his big puppy dog blue eyes. Trying to sound convincing, Iruka told the boy he was okay, then looked at Kakashi who was still in the middle of trying to get his nosebleed under control. Fearing that he had broke Kakashi's nose, Iruka grabbed his handkerchief and helped Kakashi control the flow. Little did Iruka know that only caused more problems for Kakashi then it solved.  
  
Kakashi felt light headed. His mind was reeling, he was loosing blood from the spontaneous blood flow caused by his lips on Iruka's, and aggravated by Iruka being so close as he tried to help. He wobbled a little, and finally flopped down on the grass, all but unconscious.   
  
"Um...is he ok?" The little blonde kid peeked around Iruka to get a better look.  
  
"Ummm..." Iruka really didn't know if Kakashi was alright or not, passing out form a nose bleed wasn't really normal, was it? Iruka looked back at the boy who had kicked the ball, and seeing that the kid was on the verge of tears, ruffled his hair and said that Kakashi was stronger then he looked. Hoping that he wasn't lying to the kid, he asked his name.   
  
The kid brightened, the tears still in his eyes but completely forgotten. "I'm Naruto! I just started preschool!" He exclaimed proudly. "Who're you?" He asked eagerly, leaning forward expectantly.  
  
Iruka smiled, even though he was a little worried about Kakashi lying unconscious on the ground. "I'm Iruka, nice to meet you Naruto." He knew that name...he knew it very well, but he tried to hide his surprise at hearing it.   
  
Iruka had not met the boy before, but he had heard of him. After his parents died the old hokage had talked a lot to him about a lot of things and Naruto was one of them. He had not expected the boy to be so biright eyed and cheery...even if he did just smack Iruka in the back of the head with a soccer ball. Naruto smiled again, like someone had just truned on a light bulb, "It's nice to meet you too, IRUKA!"   
  
Iruka couldn't help but smile at the boy's cheerfulness. Naruto continued to grin, then looked behind him. "Wanna come play, Iruka?" he asked hopefully.  
  
Iruka smiled but shook his head. "Sorry, I should probably stay and make sure Kakashi will be ok." He answered patiently. "Maybe next time?"  
  
Naruto's grin faded for a second, but was back again so fast it was almost never gone. "Okay! Iruka-Ni-chan!" Naurto dashed to retrieve his ball and proceeded to kick it in a random direction.   
  
Iruka sighed and looked down at Kakashi, who was still lying on the grass looking at though he was asleep...it if wasn't for the blood stain on his cheek and lip, Iruka almost would have thought him sleeping peacefully..  
  
Iruka got more comfortable on the grass and wondered what he should do. Should he try to wake Kakashi up, or wait until he got up on his own? The nosebleed had almost stopped, so Iruka started by pressing his handkerchief to it to try and stop it entirely. Kakashi's cheeks turned pink as he lay there...maybe he was dreaming about something...Iruka's mind thought, as it started to wander.  
  
Kakashi wasn't actually dreaming, but his mind was putting many strange images into his head, many of which involved Iruka, and a lot of those thoughts involved kissing. Kakashi liked to think that if he hadn't been in a dazed state, he would have been able to control the images. As it was, his mind was doing a many things, and when he felt Iruka's hand touch his face he felt his cheeks heat up.  
  
The hand touching his face did not go away however, and as he slowly came into consciousness, he could feel it's presense more and more. And the more his half dead brain thought about it the more he actually wanted to kiss Iruka...it was as if the part of his brain that had been controlling those particular thoughts had been shut off.  
  
After a moment he heard Iruka's voice asking him if he was alright. Kakashi came fully wake and realized what he had just been thinking. He couldn't have gotten any redder.   
  
"Kakashi?" Iruka asked again, seeing his face gain more colour then usual. Kakashi sat up, trying to control his blush. Luckily, he was able to pull down his headband and pull up his mask.   
  
Iruka watched as Kakashi took a deep breath as if trying to clear his mind or something. "A-are you ok?" he asked, worried about his passing out, coupled with his strange behavior. "Y-you passed out and..." He stuttered. He was worried that maybe Kakashi was angry with him for some reason...he was starting to break out of his shell but the insecurities were still there.  
  
Kakashi tugged at his mask again, he was embarrassed for the way his thoughts had turned, but he couldn't leave Iruka just like that and run away without saying a word. "I'm okay, Iruka," he answered, placing a hand on the dark haired boy's shoulder. "Really, it's nothing to be concerned about."  
  
Iruka looked unconvinced. "Are you sure...people don't just...pass out from nosebleeds, do they?" He asked, his eyes full of concern that all but made Kakashi's heart just melt right then and there. "D-do you need to see the nurse?" Iruka offered.  
  
Kakashi shook his head. "No, I'll be ok." He stood up, a little wobbly, but he regained his balance quickly. Iruka still looked worried, and he sighed. "I'll go home and get some rest before I have to meet your instructor, will that make you feel better?" he asked.  
  
Kakashi watched the tension melt away from Iruka's face, "Y-yeah it would." he answered, glad that Kakashi wasn't going to go do something foolish like find that Guy person... he was just scary.   
  
Kakashi smiled and ruffled Iruka's topknot. "Then I guess I should get going don't you think?" Iruka smiled and nodded, it was okay, the bell was going to go in a few minutes anyway.  
  
"I'll be back after school, then." Kakashi assured him, and disappeared in typical Kakashi fashion, to go home and rest just like he promised Iruka he would.  
  
Iruka watched the spot where Kakashi had left and felt strangely lonely with him gone. Getting up slowly, he picked up the empty box lunches so he could dispose of the packaging, and turned around, only to slam into someone who had been standing behind him.  
  
TBC...  
  
Gasp! Who is that standing behind Iruka? Could it be Kakashi come back for a goodbye kiss? Or is it that Gai person form earlier? Or Maybe his teacher wanting to see what new skills Iruka has learned? Or the bullies! Wanting to teach Iruka a lesson of their own?   
  
Well your just going to have to wait and find out!   
  
And congratulations to all those who guessed Gai. Although it probably wasn't all that hard.   
  
(Sigh) again we apologize for Spelling errors, and word misplacements that are still (ocuring) It's really funny when some one spelled occurring, (ocuring) in a review commenting on our spelling. I guess we're all just going to have to face the reality that our spelling sucks and that there will occasionally be errors. We shall apologize one last time but that's it, we shall try our best to get them, but we're only human so there's bound to be mistakes.  
  
And on a related subject, we are considering the possibility of asking someone to beta read our stuff before we put it up, someone who would be able to catch the little mistakes we leave that make the writing a tad jerky. Anyone interested should email Eimaj at TaterChanhotmail.com  
  
Anyway, thanks for all the reviews! Keep them coming we love seeing them! 


	7. Chapter 7

Note- WE'RE BACK! So sorry for talking so long, The computer wizard finally came home and fixed MY Computer! Computer wizard being my brother… Eimaj: He fixed mine too.....then I had to spend weeks getting everything back on it.  
MN: Oh well, hope you enjoy this chapter!  
  
see original summary, disclaimers, and warnings on the first chapter  
  
Last time....  
  
"I'll be back after school, then." Kakashi assured him, and disappeared in typical Kakashi fashion, to go home and rest just like he promised Iruka he would.

Iruka watched the spot where Kakashi had left and felt strangely lonely with him gone. Getting up slowly, he picked up the empty box lunches so he could dispose of the packaging, and turned around, only to slam into someone who had been standing behind him.  
  
And now....the new stuff!  
  
Looking up, Iruka's eyes widened as the bully from earlier leered down at him. "Hey, Iruka." That did not sound like a friendly hello to Iruka if he had ever heard one. Taking a step backwards, he bumped into someone behind him. That 'someone' caught a hold of his shoulders, squeezing them painfully. "Where do you think you're going, little Iruka?"

"I-I was just going inside..." Iruka tried to explain himself, feeling totally terrified by the looks on the boy's faces. What had he done this time? They seemed more angry than usual...somehow he knew this was going to be much worse than just having his head dunked in a toilet.

"Change of plans." The head bully said darkly, and the one holding onto Iruka's shoulders picked him up off the ground.Iruka opened his mouth to shout a protest, but another bully stuffed what smelled like an old sock into his mouth and tied it in place. Iruka nearly gagged on the smell alone as yet another person pulled his shirt over his head and tied his hands together. As he tried to squirm free of his captors, something hard connected with the back of his head and once again Iruka saw stars and went limp.  
  
Iruka opened his eyes slowly, and closed them again against the glare of the sun overhead. His head throbbed painfully and he couldn't even remember where he was or what he had been doing."Heheh, he's awake, boss." A voice spoke up from somewhere near him, and his blood ran cold. The bullies."Did you have a nice nap, Iruka?" The head bully's head came into Iruka's field of vision, but it was slightly spinning and off balance.Iruka still had the disgusting gag in his mouth, so he couldn't talk, and his hands were still bound behind him. But when a cold breeze blew across his bare skin, Iruka realized they had taken his shirt, pants and footwear, leaving him only in his boxer-shorts. Iruka blushed crimson form embarrassment as well as anger. Then they paled dramatically as the 'boss' laughed and kicked him in the stomach.Iruka winced as the wind was knocked out of him, and tried to roll over, desperate for air.  
"Where do you think you're going, little girl?" The bully asked maliciously, and kicked him again, this time in the rib area. Tears of pain rolled down Iruka's face...he was so helpless, he couldn't fight back, he couldn't even call for help."Oh look, he's crying." another bully sneered down at him.One of the larger bullies knelt down, grabbed Iruka by his topknot and pulled him up so that he was eye level with the bully's evil smirk. "Poor, poor little Iruka, your boyfriend's not here to save you this time." Iruka winced as the bully slapped his cheek none too gently. He was so afraid, this was not like the other times the bullies had gone after him. He didn't understand what he could have done to deserve this kind of treatment at all. He wanted to ask them...but his mouth was still gagged with the horrible smelling sock so he just closed his eyes and summoned up all the courage he had to try and survive this...although he had a gut wrenching feeling that he might not. He couldn't, however, stop the tears that now flowed from his eyes like tiny rivers of pain."What's wrong, little Iruka? Did your boyfriend break up with you?" he asked, and his face twisted into something ugly and full of hate and he threw Iruka back down to the ground.  
Iruka didn't see the kick coming until it was too late. Groaning in pain, he curled into a ball, trying to protect his abused stomach. "You little slut!" "Whore!" "Faggot!" Iruka tried to block out the words, he didn't know why they were calling him these things. They hurt almost as bad as the kicks and punches that the bullies dealt him. He wanted to protest, to fight back but he was too weak, to pathetic to even take care of himself. By now, the whole group had to be kicking him, as blows came from all sides, and as much as Iruka tried to roll into a ball and stay in one spot, he felt like he was being tossed around like a soccer ball. And still the words were flung at him, and those possibly cut worse. He didn't understand any of this...he wanted Kakashi to come again, but somehow he knew that wasn't going to happen.  
  
Kakashi yawned and stretched, he hated to admit it, but Iruka's suggestion to sleep seemed to have done the trick. He felt much more in control of himself then he had earlier with the soccer ball incident. He actually managed not to blush when he remembered the kiss, with a little bit of guilty pleasure. Pulling himself back to the present however, Kakashi sighed as he remembered that he was supposed to have a chat with Iruka's teacher soon. It was most likely about why Kakashi had kidnapped Iruka for 5 days without telling anyone.Slipping out of bed, he pulled on his clothes, including his mask, and pulled the headband over his eye again...it felt right that way. Tucking his hands into his pockets he left his home and slowly headed off in the direction of the school. He'd probably be a little late again, but everyone was used to that by now.Kakashi walked lazily towards the teacher's office, seeing that it was after school now and that was the most likely place to find any teacher. Before he even got to the office however, the door burst open and Iruka's teacher came out and spotted him. Kakashi wished he knew the guy's name; it would be nice to call him something other than 'Iruka's teacher', but Kakashi didn't care that much to find out."You!" Iruka's teacher pointed at him like he was accusing him of something. Kakashi blinked and looked behind him...nope, no one there. Looking back at the instructor he blinked again.

"What?" he asked.

"What did you do with Iruka?" the instructor demanded."Huh? I didn't do anything, I ate lunch with him then went home." Kakashi answered, starting to wonder if this guy's marbles were all there.Kakashi concluded that the man probably was missing half the bag when he turned to the wall and began smacking his head against it. That in itself would have been painful, but to repeat the process, Kakashi didn't want to think about it. "Umm, where's Iruka?" he had to ask, knowing that the boy was very particular about being on time. In fact, he should have been there scolding Kakashi for being late.The instructor turned back to Kakashi, a large lump on his forehead where he'd smacked himself with the wall. "He's not here!" He answered, his arms flailing wildly.Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed as the beginnings of worry began to tug at his heart. "What do you mean?" he asked quietly."He never came back from lunch!" The man was obviously having some kind of panic attack because he went back to bashing his head against the wall. Seeing as he was not going to get any help from the man, Kakashi took off towards where he had last seen Iruka. He saw nothing unusual under the tree where they had shared lunch. Tracking the younger boy's footprints in the grass, Kakashi followed them to the garbage can. Some larger feet were mixed in with Iruka's, then Iruka's prints just disappeared altogether. The ground was shuffled up as if there had been a struggle.Now Kakashi was really worried...he had to find Iruka and he had to find him now. Trying not to give in to the worry and panic that was rising in him and turning his stomach into a million tight little knots, he followed the sets of prints that walked away from the trash can. All the while hoping that Iruka might be at the end of them and that he wasn't in too much trouble.  
The trail of footprints led him deeper into the forest, behind the school where more advanced ninjas practiced training. Sometimes the prints would become muddled when it appeared something heavy was being dragged on the ground. But that in itself made it easier to see. Whoever these people were, they weren't skilled ninjas. He pushed further into the forest, trying to at least keep calm enough to be able to fight if he had to at the end of the trail. At last he broke into a little clearing, where the ground had been completely disturbed, as if something big had happened there. And lying off to the side was the motionless form of Iruka, his topknot loose, bruises all over his body.Kakashi felt his face grow cold and the pit of his stomach tightened into a horrible knot. His feet could not carry him fast enough to Iruka's side. Kneeling next to the boy, Kakashi cut his bonds and ripped the gag out of his mouth. Iruka was unconscious, so Kakashi gently placed a hand under his bruised naked shoulder and sat him up. A small groan escaped Iruka's lips as Kakashi moved him.He held Iruka's head up carefully, worried that something might be broken, or he'd make it worse if he moved him too much. Iruka's eyes opened the barest sliver, but they seemed glazed over with pain. "N-no more..." Iruka muttered almost unintelligibly. "Please..." His eyes slowly closed again.Kakashi looked franticly around the small clearing for Iruka's clothing. It wasn't exactly cold out, but Iruka was shivering, probably going into shock. What he found were some tattered rags that were the same colour as Iruka's shirt and pants. Kakashi gently laid Iruka back down on the ground and, seeing no other option, pulled off his own shirt and pulled it over Iruka's head. "Shhh, shhh, Iruka." Kakashi tried to reassure the boy when he whimpered. "It's okay, I'm here."  
Iruka's eyes opened again and he turned them towards Kakashi. The pained look in them almost killed Kakashi right then and there, and his stomach constricted into an even tighter knot.  
"Kaka....shi..." Iruka said, as if he only barely realized he was there."Yes...yes it's me..." Kakashi answered through the lump in his throat. "I'm here, you'll be ok, I promise."Kakashi almost panicked again when Iruka sighed and went limp in his arms, but the shallow breathing was enough to reassure him that Iruka had just passed out again. He tugged the shirt around the boy, then - as gently as he could - picked Iruka up. Iruka's face looked pale as death beneath the blood and bruises. With him firmly in his grasp, Kakashi sped off towards the school, it was closer than the hospital and they could call the hospital from there.  
  
The teacher had finally stopped beating himself up against the wall when Kakashi burst in, carrying a half naked and very bruised Iruka in his arms; breathing heavily from the exertion of carrying him the whole way as fast as his legs could carry him."Wha..." The instructor stared, but Kakashi would not allow any slacking."Call a doctor!" He exclaimed, and when the instructor didn't move, he added "NOW!"That shocked the instructor out of his numb state, and he took off for the phone while Kakashi kicked open the door to the nurse's office and as gently as he could placed Iruka onto one of the waiting beds. The nurse had apparently gone home for the day, so Kakashi grabbed a cloth and dampened it with water to wash the dirt out of Iruka's cuts and bruises.As he gently dabbed at one nasty cut in particular, he found his gaze moving from the task at hand to Iruka's face. He was still unconscious, but despite the bruises and cuts, he looked almost like he was sleeping peacefully. Kakashi sighed as he felt the now familiar warmth rush to his cheeks. Whatever control over his emotions he'd had when he'd woken up was now completely shot to hell."Damn it, Iruka." He muttered, gently rubbing the cut clean. "Who did this to you...?"  
But Iruka was still unconscious and couldn't give him the answer, which frustrated Kakashi to no end. Sighing, he removed the shirt he had covered Iruka with so he could get at the injuries underneath, and Iruka moaned as Kakashi gently cleaned the boy's stomach of blood and dirt. There was a very nasty set of bruises under all the dirt and blood, and Kakashi feared that Iruka might have suffered internal damage. 'Where the heck is a doctor when you need one?' Kakashi wondered, doing his best to clean Iruka up. Whoever had attacked him had done so with an incredible degree of savagery, and Kakashi couldn't understand why anyone would want to hurt Iruka like that.At last, footsteps could be heard running up the hall and the instructor, with a doctor at his heels, burst into the room.The doctor all but shoved Kakashi aside to get to Iruka and the silver haired young man moved to the other side of the bed, trying not to panic as the doctor checked Iruka's head for a concussion. Iruka groaned a little as the doctor pulled one of his eyelids open and flashed a light into it. Talking the groan as a good sign the doctor moved on to checking the rest of the boy. Kakashi had to turn away when the doctor removed Iruka's boxers, he had not even considered checking down there. He had only assumed that since he still had them on that the bullies had not bothered down there. Kakashi closed his eyes as his mind pictured Iruka without his boxers on. He was going to get another nosebleed, and then what would he do? He punched at the wall in an attempt to get out his pent up frustrations and feelings, and the instructor walked over to him with a strange look on his face. "Are you ok?" he asked, obviously thinking Kakashi had lost it...and he was the one with the lump on his head from beating himself up with the wall.  
Kakashi sighed and nodded his head, but he could not look at the instructor. Instead, he chanced a look at Iruka's prone body and was thankful to see that the doctor had him covered up with a thick blanket. The doctor turned to Kakashi and the instructor, and while he did not look happy, he also was not panicking, so Kakashi took that as a good sign.The doctor pulled out a small pad of paper and wrote something on it. "He's bruised up pretty badly." He explained. "But at this stage I don't see any signs of any serious internal injuries." Kakashi breathed an audible sigh of relief. "He's going to need round the clock care, so either someone will have to take him in to watch him, or he will have to be admitted into the hospital...does he have any family members who can take care of him?" Kakashi and his teacher both shook their heads a little stupidly at the question. Sighing, the doctor rubbed his temples, "Does he have any close friends?" This time Kakashi looked at Iruka's instructor; he had only known Iruka for a week, and there might be someone else the kid looked up to...as much as Kakashi didn't like the thought.The instructor shook his head sadly. "He doesn't have any friends at school that I know of." he answered. The doctor sighed and started to put the pad back in his pocket. "Well then, I'll have to call the hospital and get him admitted.." he said.Kakashi looked down at the prone Iruka, then imagined him waking up alone in a cold hospital room after an ordeal like he'd just had. "Wait..." He spoke up, and the doctor stopped.  
Kakashi was ever so glad for his mask, it made looking mature and impassive very easy. "I have a spare room in my apartment, and I wouldn't mind looking after Iruka." The teacher looked skeptical, but the doctor looked a little more relieved. "But you've only known Iruka for a week..." the instructor started to say but Kakashi held up his hand. "I've been instructing him for the past five days, and I'd like to think we have become friends in that time." he explained.  
The instructor didn't object, and after a few moments the doctor smiled, and pulled his note pad back out. Ripping the page off that he'd written on, he handed it to Kakashi. "Here's a prescription for some painkillers...he will probably need them when he wakes up." The doctor explained, and Kakashi took the piece of paper silently. "He should probably just eat soup or something easy on his stomach."Kakashi nodded his head, and the instructor sighed a little "I'll arrange for some transport for Iruka." he muttered and left the nurse's office. The doctor went to the closet and pulled out some hospital pj's and placed them on the bed beside Iruka, "When he wakes up, get him to change into these, he shouldn't be out too long anyway." Kakashi nodded his head again and the doctor left, leaving Kakashi alone with the unconscious Iruka.Kakashi sighed and rubbed his temples in exasperation. He must be some kind of glutton for punishment or something...now Iruka was going to be at his house...for who knows how long. He could just picture himself going slowly mad with no escape from these cursed feelings. Looking down at Iruka, he sighed again and stepped forward towards him, standing over his sleeping form.He smiled a little as he looked down at the sleeping boy, he couldn't help it, Iruka looked so innocent while sleeping. Sighing, Kakashi sat down on the bed next to him and brushed a stray hair out of Iruka's eyes. Acting completely on impulse, he lowered his mask for a brief moment and kissed one of the few un-bruised spots on Iruka's face, just above his left eye. Iruka stirred, and Kakashi drew back quickly, replacing his mask.He pulled up the mask just in time to hide his furiously blushing face as Iruka opened his eyes and groaned, blinking, then turning his head to look at Kakashi. His eyes were no longer glazed over and had their normal shine to them. "Kakashi..." He said, and Kakashi felt his face grow even hotter. "I had a nice dream..." Iruka said in a quiet voice.Kakashi smiled and brushed Iruka's hair back, "I'm glad your dream was nice, considering what happened to you in reality." he said, and watched as Iruka's peaceful expression disappeared as he remembered what happened. Kakashi knew it was cruel of him to reminded the boy of his ordeal, but he didn't think it was a good thing if Iruka pushed it to the back of his mind to forget it. That usually only made it worse as time went on.Kakashi watched him sadly for a moment, and at last ventured to speak. "How do you feel?" he asked gently."...sore..." Iruka answered miserably. Kakashi sighed inwardly. Of course he was sore...something very very bad had happened to him."Can you sit up?" Kakashi asked, and picked up the hospital pajamas that the doctor had left. "You need to get into these so that the instructor can take you...to my house." He told Iruka, hoping he wouldn't hurt himself too much trying to get up.Iruka gasped in pain when he tried to sit up and rolled onto his side, clutching his stomach. "I-I feel like I'm going to throw up." he said through gasps of breath. Kakashi slipped his arm under Iruka's bruised shoulder and helped him to sit up, and once up, his green tinged face faded to a very pale complexion. "The doctor said there were no internal injuries...but he didn't say anything about the muscles." Kakashi said, sounding a little angry.Iruka didn't say anything as Kakashi complained about the uselessness of doctors these days, and picked up the pajama top. Iruka took it and tried to get it on, but winced in pain when he tried to bend both arms at once. Kakashi sighed, and took it from him. "Here...let me help." he said quietly and very gently...almost tenderly, he helped Iruka to slip into the pj top, then buttoned up the front.As Kakashi fumbled with the buttons, Iruka trembled a little, he felt so weak and pathetic. Not to mention humiliated...he couldn't remember how Kakashi had found him but after what the bullies did, Iruka was sure he had been a sorry sight. Not that he wasn't a sorry sight right now, even after he had been cleaned up and taken care of. He hung his head as his shoulders began to shake with silent sobs. Kakashi at last finished with the last button and looked up to see Iruka's tears start to fall. "Iruka?" he asked, unsure of what he should do, or what he should say. He had the biggest urge to just gather him up in his arms protectively.Iruka wiped at his eyes angrily. "I'm crying again..." He choked out. "Why am I so pathetic?"  
Iruka didn't seem to be expecting an answer though, because he turned his head away from Kakashi in shame. "I'm pathetic and worthless!" he cried, his voice thick with misery. And anything that Kakashi could have said, he wouldn't have listened to at this point in time. Kakashi sighed and looked down at his hands, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, Iruka." he said, feeling even more guilty by the second.Iruka didn't answer, and Kakashi didn't look up. "I'm sorry..." Kakashi continued. "That I didn't teach you how to defend yourself...maybe if I had spent more time paying attention to what was happening to you then...never mind I'm just sorry." He hung his head, expecting Iruka to explode at him in anger...he had every right to.But there was no explosion of anger or pointing fingers of accusation. After a moment, Kakashi looked up and saw Iruka looking at him with such a pained expression on his face that for one brief moment, Kakashi thought their friendship was completely gone, never to return again. But Iruka reached out to him and clung to his arm, burying his face in the crook of Kakashi's neck, sobbing.Kakashi was shocked for a moment that Iruka had grabbed onto him, but he quickly made himself recover, and reached his arms around to comfort the boy as best he could. Iruka heaved with sobs, and Kakashi had to put away the thoughts that swam in his head about how he loved the smell of dirt in his hair...Iruka needed someone right now and he was not going to give in to his irrational thoughts, he was going to help him.After a few moments, Iruka's hysterical sobs ceased, and with a little help from Kakashi, who tactfully turned his head away, Iruka managed to get into the rest of his clothing. It wasn't long after that when Iruka's instructor came back. Kakashi suspected the man had been waiting outside the door for Iruka to calm down."Are you ready to go?" The instructor asked, and Iruka rubbed at his eyes to hide the fact that he had been crying."Go where?" he asked. He hoped they weren't taking him home...he didn't think he could sit there alone with what had happened."Kakashi-san has agreed to take you in for the time being." His instructor explained, and Kakashi looked away, feeling embarrassed, and fearing Iruka would refuse.But whether Iruka was glad not to be going home, or to someone else's home he did not know. He didn't exactly jump for joy, but he was at least able to offer up a weak smile. Then another thought occurred to him, 'What if I'm some kind of a burden on him? Is he doing this out of guilt? Or did the instructor blackmail him into it?' Iruka had to stop there, he was getting a headache.  
"Can you walk?" The instructor asked, and Kakashi glared down at him, preparing to say 'Of course he can't walk! What are you a moron?!', but he was stopped by Iruka's voice. "I...I can try." he said bravely, and Kakashi could only gape at him. How could he possibly say he was weak and pathetic...to Kakashi he seemed strong.Iruka clenched his teeth as he tried to stand on his own two legs, his knees wobbling like a new born calf. He was able to make his stand for about a second, maybe two but who was really counting? Gasping with pain, he slumped to the floor, and if Kakashi had not been there to catch him Iruka probably would have suffered the concussion that the doctor was worried about.  
Iruka winced, and forced a smile. "Heh...I guess I can't." He said. Kakashi turned around so that his back was facing Iruka and said a little more gruffly than he intended:"Get on.""Wha..." Iruka started, but Kakashi interrupted."Get on, I'll carry you." He said, and after a moment, Iruka wordlessly obeyed.Once Iruka was in place, Kakashi followed the instructor out of the room to the awaiting ride, a rickshaw driver who was tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for his passengers to settle themselves. Kakashi made sure Iruka was comfortable before signaling to the driver to go. Iruka winced in pain as the wheels went over little bumps and cracks.After the longest ride of either boy's life, the rickshaw at last reached Kakashi's home, and, using the same piggy back system as before, Kakashi carefully and slowly walked to his front door and carried Iruka inside. His house, he realised with some embarrassment, was a complete mess...apparently his mind had been so preoccupied, he'd forgotten to clean...or maybe he was just lazy.But this didn't seem to be a problem with on, he was 15 and lived alone. Kakashi sighed at the mess but made his way through the disaster area with minimal effort. Kakashi was glad that he never really used the spare bedroom for anything except his books...and no, not the kind that he was always reading, those had a special place under his bed in a loose floorboard...okay, he was paranoid but who cared.Pushing books aside to make a path to the bed, Kakashi revealed the mug of his dog Pakkun, who looked up at him with indignation. "So now your bringing boys home are you?" the dog asked, and Kakashi glared at it. He was starting to seriously regret the day he taught the thing to talk.Kakashi coughed and ignored the comment, but that was fine, Pakkun had plenty more to say. "You've been gone five days, and then out of nowhere you show up with some poor kid?" Iruka stared down at the dog in bewilderment as Kakashi continued to ignore it. "What did you do, kidnap him? And by the way you're out of ...well, everything. What's the big idea of leaving me with no dog food for 5 days?"Kakashi continued to ignore the dog as he placed Iruka on the bed and reached over for the blanket folded at the end. He unfolded it to cover Iruka up with it, and Iruka, who was watching the dog, tugged at his arm. "Uh...Kakashi..." He started."Not now!" Kakashi growled, even though he hadn't meant to be short with him. "But..." Iruka began, and Kakashi stopped as he felt something bite into his ankle. Cursing, he reached down and grabbed hold of the dog. "Goddamnit Pakkun!" "The least you could do is say hello." the dog said, sounding like some kind of housewife. Kakashi sighed, "Hello, Pakkun, I'm home." he said in a dull voice. Iruka blinked, but decided not to say anything. He had never heard a dog talk before and his brain was not in the best of states to comprehend anything that complex.  
"That's better." The dog wagged it's tail, and turned it's head to look at Iruka. "Who's the kid?" It asked. "Don't tell me you've taken to kidnapping children now...""I am not kidnapping...!" Kakashi sighed and used every ounce of self control not to yell at the dog in front of Iruka. "This is Iruka, he'll be staying with us for a few days so you have to be nice." This last word was said in such a way that it told the dog there was no room for arguing.  
"What, you think I'm not nice?" the dog asked, then wagged his tail as if he was innocent. Kakashi sighed and put Pakkun down, then turned to Iruka. "Are you hungry at all? I can make...get something if you are." Iruka shook his head 'no' and laid back, closing his eyes "J-just maybe some water." Kakashi was silent for a moment, then he said "Ok..." and left the room to get Iruka a glass of water. The dog followed him out, leaving Iruka alone for the moment.  
"So what IS with the kid?" Pakkun asked Kakashi as he rinsed out a glass."Just shut up..." Kakashi growled, and filled the glass half full with water, then carried it back into Iruka's room.Iruka was lying back in bed, his eyes closed, and Kakashi smiled. The other boy was asleep. Placing the cup of water down on the night stand beside the bed, Kakashi quietly left the room and closed the door after him, only to have Pakkun give him a look that implied that he did not believe in Kakashi's good intentions in the least."What?" Kakashi asked, his momentary good mood at seeing Iruka so peacefully asleep ruined. "Don't give me that look, dog.""Can I help it if I think you're starting to go crazy?" The dog asked, continuing to give him the skeptical look."Too late for that." Kakashi answered with a wry smile, then opened a cupboard, dug out a tin can, and took all of the bills that were in there, stuffing them into his pocket.  
Kakashi looked at the clock on his wall, it wasn't too late, the stores should still be open, and he really needed to restock his empty cupboards with something a bit more substantial then dust. "Watch Iruka while I'm gone," He told the dog before Pakkun could protest...or even ask for a treat to be brought back for him.Practically slamming the door behind him, Kakashi shoved his hands in his pockets and walked lazily to the grocery store near his home...he thought it had a pharmacy in it and he still needed to get Iruka's painkillers. He took a deep breath of clean air as he walked, trying to relieve some stress. Even the dumb dog could see something was wrong with him.It didn't take long for Kakashi to reach his destination, and being lost in his own thoughts only made the walk seem shorter. Grabbing a hand-basket, he grabbed the essentials as he made his way to the pharmacy. It didn't take long to fill out Iruka's prescription and he went back to shopping for some of the more tastier essentials and instant foods, and maybe one or two candy bars.He was pondering at the candy bar isle over what kind would suit Iruka (he already had one for him and a treat for the dog in his basket), when something frightening exclaimed from behind him "AHA, there you are, Kakashi!!!"The frightening thing, of course, revealed itself to be Gai when Kakashi reluctantly turned around. "What do you want, Gai?" Kakashi asked, exasperated. He really didn't have time for this idiot right now.Pointing dramatically at Kakashi, Gai said just as dramatically: "I CHALLENGE you, Kakashi!!!" Kakashi looked around the store where a few passersby looked at Gai oddly, "What, right now? I'm kinda in the middle of something." Kakashi answered as if bored and turned back to the candy. He was down to two choices.Gai stared at the back of Kakashi's head, his entire being radiating with determination and anger. "Damn you Kakashi! What can you possibly have to do that's more important than fighting with ME?" He cried dramatically, his eyes burning."Hmmm...maybe this one...but does he like caramel....?" Kakashi was mumbling to himself, completely ignoring Gai."KAKASHI! As my rival, you must accept my challenge!" Clenching his fists, Gai's eyes streamed with tears.After a moment, Kakashi turned back to the green clad big eye browed crying ninja. "Hey, Gai... which do you prefer, the Kit-Kat or the Skor bar?" Blinking in confusion, all Gai could do was point to the Kit-Kat. "Ah, thank you." Kakashi said, tossing the Skor bar into his basket and putting the Kit-Kat away."B-but I said..." Gai stuttered pathetically."Let's see...milk...eggs...prescription...soup mix... Think I got it all." Kakashi said, then walked away from Gai completely.Pakkun nudged the door open with his nose, the boy Iruka was still sleeping apparently. Quietly picking his way across the floor, Pakkun jumped onto the end of the bed to get a better look at him. Wrinkling his nose, the dog tried not to sneeze, Iruka smelled like dirt, sweat, blood and antiseptic. And from the bruises on his face, Pakkun figured the boy had been in a fight.  
Remaining where he was since the smell of him at the moment was almost overwhelming, Pakkun watched him sleep for a little while. He didn't see anything special about the boy...he just looked like a regular kid who'd gotten into a fight, but he'd felt the vibes coming off of Kakashi like water.What did Kakashi see in the boy...? Oy, this was too much thinking for the small dog. Seeing that Iruka wasn't going to go anywhere soon, Pakkun laid down at Iruka's feet and closed his eyes. Almost instantly, he was snoring away, much more loudly then one would expect from such a small dog. Iruka groaned a little, then opened his eyes, careful not to move his aching body too much, and was able to look at the source of the loud snoring.Iruka listened for a moment...the rest of the house seemed totally silent, although it was hard to tell through the loud snores of the dog. Iruka raised an eyebrow, wondering how such a small animal could make that kind of noise. Sighing and turning his head the other way, he spotted the water class lying on the bedside table, presumably left by Kakashi.Clenching his teeth, Iruka tried not to groan or curse as he reached for the glass of water. If possible, he seemed to hurt more now than he had when Kakashi had put him to bed. Once the glass was in hand, Iruka could only take a few sips to settle his stomach which was protesting every move he made.He sighed and struggled just as much to put the glass back as he had to pick it up in the first place. Sliding back down into a reasonably comfortable position on the bed he sighed heavily. Now he was totally useless...he couldn't even manage to pick up a glass of water without almost killing himself. Thinking he already must be a nuisance to Kakashi, he wondered how angry the older boy would get when he found this out.Kakashi seemed to be all stressed out over something, and Iruka didn't really think it was him. 'We've only known each other for a week and for most of that he tried to teach me stuff...lot of good that did...' With those bitter thoughts, Iruka pulled the covers up to his chin, 'I'm a child, a useless child. I can't even get past the basics, and Kakashi's only two years older than me...well, okay one year, really ...and that makes it worse'Pulling on the blankets to cover his head, he tipped the little dog over, who awoke with a snort. Blinking sleepily, the dog looked up to find Iruka was hiding under his covers for some reason. "Hey, something wrong?" He asked, taking the few steps up to Iruka's head and poking his nose under the blanket.Iruka turned to see the dog's head under the blanket, his eyes were bright as he tried to will the tears away. He didn't want anyone to see him crying, not even Pakkun. Pakkun sensed the boy's distress but didn't go away as Iruka would have probably liked. Instead, the small dog crawled under the blanket and actually cuddled up to Iruka, minding his bruises of course. Iruka, though he was stunned for a moment, at last hugged the dog to him, accepting the comfort that the furry talking animal offered. It didn't make him worry any less, but it made him feel slightly better. The peace only lasted for a moment however, before the door angrily slammed open and two pairs of footsteps could be heard entering the house. Shocked, Iruka let go of Pakkun, who bounced off the bed barking like he was going to take the intruder's leg off...hey, he was still a dog at heart. Kakashi's angry voice could be heard telling the dog to shut up and for 'Gai' to go away. Iruka huddled down in bed, when they had been in the forest, Kakashi had played the part of instructor as well as friend, but that had not really shown Iruka his bad side and he was worried.  
He listened nervously as Kakashi's angry voice filtered back to him...he was obviously very angry about something. Something slammed onto the table, and an almost familiar voice cried in an extremely loud voice: "Kakashi, I insist that you accept my challenge!!!"There was a hollow 'thunk' and Iruka had a bad feeling that Kakashi had hit whoever it was that had been speaking. "Be quiet you moron!"After a few moments of silence, Iruka saw Kakashi poke his head into the room, and sigh as he saw Iruka looked no worse for wear...although his eyes were rather wide and fearful. Kakashi actually smiled beneath his mask and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "How are you feeling?" He asked, as Pakkun disappeared into the kitchen."Aaargh, Kakashi, how dare you...!" The guy's voice cried from outside of the room, then there was the sound of total commotion from the kitchen. Kakashi's smile disappeared, and he groaned a little, made his way over to Iruka's bed, pulled a chair over and flopped down on it, holding his head in both hands. Those two would be the death of him one day, he was sure of it.  
Seeing Kakashi's distress, Iruka was going to say something, but the door was suddenly thrown open and Gai stood in the door way pointing at Kakashi, challenging him again. Ignoring Gai completely, Kakashi held up Iruka's prescription, "Here you are," he told the boy, "You should probably take one now, then I can make you something to eat."Gai stared at them for a moment, then burst into a new barrage. "Why do you always ignore me?!" he cried, pointing, and of course, Kakashi ignored him. Iruka couldn't help but stare however, as he took the bottle of pills from Kakashi. It was that green guy from before.  
Gai blinked, as if just noticing Iruka, and zipped over faster than the speed of light. "And why is HE here?" He asked, pointing to Iruka. Iruka blinked as Gai pointed at him, not understanding why this green guy was so upset that he was there. "Kakashi, what is this kid doing here? What have you done to him you hentai reading pervert?!" Gai demanded in his loud voice. Iruka blushed, he was a little annoyed that everyone seemed to either be calling him a kid or treating him as one...well, he could understand that he was weak, but did they have to keep pointing it out? Kakashi's usual mask of boredom cracked slightly and a vein appeared on his temple, indicating that his patience was very rapidly running thin. "I didn't do anything to him, moron." He answered very slowly."Liar!" Guy cried, pointing at him. "Look at all these bruises!" He grabbed Iruka's arm and held it up for all to see. Iruka winced at the pain of having his arm forcibly moved when it was still so sore."Gai, you dumbass!" Gai blinked and looked at a rather scary looking Kakashi. Kakashi rarely lost his cool and right now he was mad...Gai may have been loud and painful to look at, but he wasn't that dumb. Sensing Kakashi's killing aura, he made a strategic retreat out the window. Kakashi sighed as Gai ran away, when he was in a better mood, he could use that to torment the green ninja. Turning back to Iruka, he took the abused arm in his hand, examining it. Iruka watched as Kakashi took care of his ills...again, and, coming to a quick conclusion, snapped his arm away from him, disregarding the pain it caused him.Kakashi seemed somewhat surprised and looked up, to ask what was wrong, only to find Iruka looking at him with angry, hurt eyes. "Iruka?" he asked, wondering what he'd done."I'm not a child you know!" he cried a little more hotly, and turned his head away form Kakashi's confused face. "I'm 15, almost 16, Kakashi. And by your reputation, you're 17. S-so I'm not a kid." He couldn't keep the last little tremor out of his voice, he hurt all over and he had not meant to yell at Kakashi, he felt bad that he had, but Iruka had been alone for some time now, plus he had been feeling rather odd lately...and with the bully's mental attack he couldn't help but feel that he was as they said.Kakashi was silent as Iruka got it all off his chest, and he sighed and sat down on a little empty spot on Iruka's bed. "Damn it..." He muttered, and Iruka stole a small glance at him. "I knew it, I'm no good at this being around people stuff." Kakashi said, and sighed, turning his head to look at Iruka. Iruka blushed a little and turned quickly away, trying to make it look like he was still angry. "Look..." Kakashi started, trying to gather his thoughts. "I know you're not a kid, ok?" he said at last. "I'm just worried about you, and that's a bit of a big deal for me." Kakashi looked away to hide the blush on his cheeks, that was the closest he'd have ever said to show he cared about Iruka. "I don't have many close friends, Gai's apparently my rival, but that hardly means I want to spend any time with him." Iruka found himself blushing as Kakashi talked, he felt ashamed that he had mistaken friendship for pity."But..." Kakashi continued, and sighed again. "I guess I have been acting a little overprotective..." he added. 'Why does this kid make me worry so much?' he asked himself, and he shook his head. "Look, from now on, you're the boss, ok? Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it...I just want you to get better." He hung his head. The dog sitting on the ground in front of him had that look in his eyes, and Kakashi knew what it meant. Kakashi, apologizing to someone? That was so non-Kakashi like that it wasn't even funny.  
Before the dog could open its mouth and say something, Kakashi used his foot to prevent that. Iruka looked up when he heard a surprised squeak from the floor but forgot about it when Kakashi handed him his water. "I'll have to make dinner, anything you would prefer?""Umm..." Iruka stuttered. "My stomach kind of hurts so...um...soup?" he suggested, and Kakashi reached over to pat him on the foot, but reconsidered and just shoved his hands in his pockets. "Soup it is, I'll bring it when it's done." He told Iruka and left. Iruka clutched the blanket tightly and stared at the door Kakashi had just exited, feeling very strange, and very guilty for feeling strange.Kakashi sighed as he milled around the kitchen preparing the soup. He was a little worried about what Iruka said, Kakashi knew he wasn't a little kid even though he had an innocent face and the most adorable eyes he had ever seen…he stopped those thoughts before he could obsess over them...it wouldn't do to serve his guest burnt soup at all. He sighed again as he stirred the soup, and Pakkun hopped up on the counter and sat down, looking at him pointedly."Have you completely lost your mind?" The dog asked, and Kakashi tasted the soup and added a little more flavoring to it."Not completely, but I'm getting there." Kakashi answered at length.The dog sighed. "Geeze, you're fawning over the kid like you're in love with him or something." the dog complained.Kakashi glared at the dog then turned back to the soup. "I have no idea what you're talking about." he said, trying to ignore the annoying little voice in the back of his head. His dog him a skeptical look which Kakashi ignored too, and stirred the soup. Pakkun eventually gave up and left him alone.Kakashi stared at the soup, and despite the old proverb of 'a watched pot never boils' it finally started to bubble, and little waves of steam came up from it. Deciding it was done, Kakashi reached over and turned the burner off, then put some of it into a bowl for Iruka. Placing the bowl on a plate and throwing a few crackers on it, he carried it to Iruka's room, the dog watching him all the way.  
  
TBC… Gasp! What could happen now? …and yeah that's kind of an evil cliff hanger…but don't complain! It's longer than the others hope your happy.  
Eimaj: It's too long....this thing took me five days to edit! Five days!  
MN: ....whatever, I know I'm happy, I have my computer back! Muahahahahahah!… sorry…

P.S. The thing decided to take away all the paragraphs so I had to go through and try to put spaces between them....I really hope I got them all, but don't be surprised if there were a few stuck together 


	8. Chapter 8

Corn Fields and Coral Reefs

see original summary, disclaimers, and warnings on the first chapter

Well it's another chapter…after how long? apologizes to rabid readers who pelted my email with so many reviews I couldn't put off updating anymore Not that I could really update with that virus on my computer…what a pain in the ass Anyway that's my excuse, like it or lump it…in the end you got a chapter! Not one of the best chapters or anything but hey, it's a chapter! And the next one should come sooner than this one did (as long as computer problems don't bite me in the ass again. Pray with me readers…I need a new computer for Christmas that won't die on me every week….)

Chapter #8

Kakashi stared at the soup, and despite the old proverb of 'a watched pot never boils' it finally started to bubble, and little waves of steam came up from it. Deciding it was done, he reached over and turned the burner off, then put some of it into a bowl for Iruka. Placing the bowl on a plate and throwing a few crackers on it, he carried it to Iruka's room, the dog watching him all the way.

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Opening the door with his foot, Kakashi forced a smile on his face...even though it was covered by the mask. Iruka was sitting up a little on the bed, now that the pain killers had kicked in…he looked a little drowsy as well. Kakashi placed the tray in front of Iruka, who bent his head as if embarrassed, which discouraged Kakashi a little.

Kakashi drew back slightly. Iruka hadn't really said anything when he'd tried to explain himself, so maybe he was still upset. "Um..." He coughed nervously. "Here's your soup...you don't have to eat it all if you don't want to..." He started, and Iruka reached over, pulling the tray closer and taking a sip. That left Kakashi with only one thing to do...stand there and try not to stare at him.

Iruka blushed when he noticed Kakashi still standing there after a few minutes…he should have noticed sooner, but with the drugs in his system, he was lucky to have noticed anything at all. "Kakashi...you can sit down, you know." he spoke up, and Kakashi cleared his throat before obediently sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Iruka's hand-eye coordination was starting to slow down, and he was having a slightly difficult time getting the spoon to his mouth. With stubborn determination, however, he kept trying to eat the soup and prove he wasn't too weak to even do that. Unfortunately, the pain killers were making even that extremely difficult...although it didn't hurt to move anymore...

Kakashi glanced over just in time to see Iruka, eyes closed and keeling over, his face headed straight for the bowl of steaming hot soup.

His hands shot out and caught Iruka's head between his hands. He helped him to sit back up as Iruka blinked his drowsy eyes at him. Both of them blushed just a little, and both were determined to ignore it. "Maybe we should wait until you're not too droopy eyed before you eat... Unless you're too hungry to wait, I can help..." Kakashi blushed and looked away again, secretly hoping Iruka would accept the offer.

Iruka opened his mouth to answer when a loud growl broke the silence for him…his stomach was growling. Iruka turned red and nodded to Kakashi's offer...he was too hungry to be proud right now.

Kakashi, feeling his ears growing very, very hot, dipped the spoon into the bowl and held it up for Iruka to eat. Iruka opened his mouth and let Kakashi feed him, and if possible, the butterflies in Kakashi's stomach picked up the pace.

It was a little awkward, but with Iruka propped up in bed and Kakashi spoon feeding him, they were able to get most of the soup into Iruka before he became too tired to even keep his eyes open. Kakashi smiled as Iruka's head leaned back against the pillows in exhaustion. "Maybe it's time to get some sleep." Kakashi told him gently.

Iruka nodded sleepily and Kakashi made sure he was comfortable. Putting the tray on the ground he reached to cover Iruka with the blanket, but the dark haired boy was already sound asleep. Kakashi slowly pulled the blanket up to Iruka's chin, and couldn't help but watch him sleeping.

Iruka sighed in his sleep and Kakashi felt the butterflies in his stomach again, only this time they weren't so agitated and he couldn't help but smile. No matter what anyone said about him, Iruka was stronger then he looked…

It was getting dark out and Kakashi knew he should get going and have his own supper, but he was content just to watch the boy sleep. Iruka muttered something in his sleep and turned his head towards Kakashi. Acting on complete impulse, Kakashi removed his mask and leaned over, lightly kissing Iruka on the lips.

Kakashi closed his eyes as he let himself enjoy the feeling of his lips brushing ever so slightly against Iruka's. He felt at peace...then he pulled away and realized what he had just done. Eyes widening, he jumped off the bed and backed up, almost knocking over the chair that was still in the middle of the room. He stared at Iruka, still asleep, in mixed horror and confusion. What had he just done?

Kakashi turned and fled the room, his mind still asking himself a million questions, his face fevered with embarrassment. That was nothing like what happened at lunch! That had been a complete accident, and a painful one at that. Ignoring the look the small dog gave him, he threw himself into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Cold, a very cold shower.

"Hey, are you ok in there?" The dog asked, knocking at the door with his paw.

"I'm fine, go away!" Kakashi yelled, closing his eyes as the water ran over his head and soaked into his clothes. Slowly, he sunk down into the tub and stared blankly into the shower wall. His mind was still reeling, with questions, and images of Iruka...always the images of Iruka...

Kakashi shivered a little as the cold water pelted down on him. Okay, he liked Iruka as a friend... but that didn't explain why he'd kissed the other boy. Nor why he was insanely protective over him. He sighed, trying to figure it out as the water soaked him through. The only conclusion he could come up with was that he had kissed Iruka on complete impulse, and had enjoyed it!

He covered his face with one hand then dragged it down as he groaned. This was the most confusing thing he'd ever had to deal with...here he was, probably the biggest, most perverted hentai lover in Konoha, kissing boys and liking it.

'But it wasn't just any boy' a small voice in the back of his mind spoke up. 'It was Iruka...'

Kakashi shook his head sending water spraying everywhere, 'No, no, don't blame this on Iruka, he's got enough problems as it is!' Kakashi mentally scolded himself, 'Blame it on hormones! You're 17, you have hormones, they make you do strange things,'

' ...Like kissing Iruka?' The small voice asked.

'Ummmm....'

He groaned again, and felt like just melting into the ground so he wouldn't have to deal with this. The weird tiny voice in his head was right...this wasn't hormones, this was something...different. Something he'd never come across before. He knew how his Icha Icha paradise books made him feel...this was the same, but still different. "Argh, what is it?!" he cried, and practically ripped out his hair.

"What's what?" The dog said, still outside the door. "Hey, are you trying to drown yourself in there or what?"

Sighing, Kakashi turned off the water. It was not helping him think and at this rate he was going to catch a cold before he even figured half of it out. Pulling off his soaked clothing, he grabbed a towel from under the sink. He was cold, hungry, and wet...such a lovely combination...not to mention he was confused, so that was even better.

Poking his head out the door, Kakashi glared at the annoying dog, "Why don't you go chase a cat or something?" he asked.

The dog glared back as Kakashi checked the room, then stepped out in his towel and headed for his room. "Why don't you?" The dog retorted, poking his head into the bathroom. "What the hell kind of shower did you have anyway? It's not even warm in here! And why are your clothes lying on the ground all wet?"

Kakashi tried to ignore the questions as he took his pj's out of a drawer and pulled them on.

Once in his pj's, he made a brief stop over at the kitchen for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sandwich in hand, Kakashi crept back to his room, only to stop when he reached Iruka's door. Not able to resist the temptation of peeking inside…just to check on Iruka, of course…to make sure he was okay…

He opened the door a crack and peeked in. Iruka was just where he had left him, sleeping peacefully, completely unaware of what had just gone on in there. Kakashi couldn't help it, just seeing him so peaceful brought a smile to his lips. The dog walked over and looked in as well. "What? What are we looking at, is something wrong in here?" He asked, and Kakashi almost slammed the door on the dog's head.

Pakkun glared up at Kakashi, but he tactfully did not say anything, ...at least not about almost taking his own dog's head off. "You smell different, Kakashi," Pakkun spoke up, "Kind of like when you're reading your perverted books...but different."

Kakashi's face turned very, very red, "I smell different when I'm reading?"

"Yeah, kind of like..." The dog started but Kakashi held up a hand.

"I don't want to know!" he said desperately. Whatever he smelled like when he was reading his books couldn't be good.

"Are you sick or something, Kakashi?" The dog asked, following him. "You smell different, you act different, you..." he stopped when Kakashi turned on him.

"Will you just stop...look I don't know ok? I don't know anything right now so stop asking me!"

Pakkun sighed "Fine, fine, I'll let it drop...at least for tonight." the dog said and went to find his own bed amongst the piles of junk in the living room. Kakashi sighed, he was going to really have to clean his house tomorrow…he didn't think Iurka would like to spend the whole day in bed if possible...and maybe Pakkun would lighten up a little about how he smelled.

Pakkun awoke the next morning to find Kakashi garbed in an old outfit, covered with an apron, and one of those paper air filter masks on, cleaning the kitchen with a vengeance. Dust flew through the air as he dusted the top of things, and wiped counter tops at the same time. This was it...the guy had definitely lost it, the dog thought to himself as he hauled himself to his feet.

Walking over to Kakashi, Pakkun sneezed from all the dust in the air, "What do you think you're doing, cleaning?" he asked which stopped Kakashi, feather duster in hand as he turned to Pakkun and said quite seriously that they had an injured guest and it wouldn't do to have him tripping over all the junk that they had left out.

"You never clean when the loud one comes over." The dog pointed out, and Kakashi continued his cleaning regiment.

"I hate Gai, I thought you would have figured that out by now." Kakashi replied. "Drag that trash out so it can get picked up, will you?" He asked.

"Pfft, if I were a normal dog I wouldn't have to do this." Pakkun grumbled, grabbing the bag in his teeth and dragging it out the open door.

Kakashi ignored the complaining dog as he began washing about a month's worth of dishes. He knew he was acting odd, he normally didn't care who saw that he lived like a slob, but as it was, he was keeping his hands busy so he didn't think about Iruka in the other room. He had barely slept and all he could think about was Iruka…it scared him a little to be honest, he had never been this...directed...focused on anther human being before. Well except maybe the 4th but that was completely different, he had been Kakashi's teacher and mentor.

Realizing his thoughts were wandering back to Iruka, Kakashi redoubled his efforts on scrubbing the dishes. The dog came back in and, as was his custom, jumped up on the counter to see what Kakashi was doing.

"What are you trying to do, rub the paint off that plate?" The dog asked, somewhat concerned at his master's increasingly odd behavior.

Kakashi sighed and rinsed the plate, "If you're not going to help clean I suggest you check yourself into a doggy hotel for the day." He told the dog.

Pakkun sighed, "Just trying to figure out if you need to be put in a strait jacket is all." he said, then jumped off the table and headed out the door.

Kakashi stopped scrubbing plates and looked at the dog, "Where do you think you're going?"

"You told me if I didn't want to clean I could leave and I don't wanna clean." the dog answered and disappeared out the door.

Kakashi stared at the open door for a while, his hands still immersed in the dish water before realization sank in. 'Damnit, now I'm stuck in here alone with Iruka!' He rushed to the door. "Pakkun, come back!" he yelled desperately, but there was no answer. Several people in the street turned to look at him strangely though.

Sighing, Kakashi closed the door and resumed cleaning, and seeing how he had gotten up at about 5am and had been cleaning non stop, he soon found himself in a completely spotless apartment. He almost groaned when the work stopped, because it meant he would have to go check on Iruka, and since it was almost 10am he figured he should get up and eat something.

Taking off his apron and throwing it lazily on a nearby chair, Kakashi nervously approached the cavern of doom (a.k.a. Iruka's room) and knocked. He heard a sleepy, muffled answer from within, and took it as an invitation. Opening the door he stepped inside and saw Iruka lying there, apparently just waking up, his topknot almost completely undone, long dark hair flowing loosely out at all angles.

The light was shining in through the window and Iruka laid there blinking as the light hit his eyes; Kakashi wished he had a camera…then he wished he had waited another hour, when the light wouldn't have shone through the window in that way and highlighting his features in a way that Kakashi really had been only half expecting.

Feeling a blush rise in his cheeks, and after stifling that tiny voice in his head that cried out how totally adorable Iruka looked, Kakashi stepped inside and looked down at the half awake Iruka.

"How do you feel this morning?" he asked, and Iruka blinked at him, then reached up and rubbed at his sleepy eyes, without flinching from pain.

Iruka's sleepy features soon turned as red as a tomato, "I...err...I have to use the bathroom..." he said embarrassed, throwing the covers off and trying to get out of bed. But the painlessness that he'd had during sleep was now gone, and his muscles were stiff and bruised. Iruka doubled over in bed clutching his stomach.

"I-Iruka?" Kakashi cried, as Iruka continued to groan in pain. "Damn it, why did that dog have to leave?" he cursed.

TBC…

Nyaa, there you have it, chapter eight! Hopefully you enjoyed it…and be thankful I didn't have to edit the nine page chapter or it would never have gotten done…

Mysterious Ninja: You didn't do the gasp thing…

Eimaj: Meh fine…

Gasp! What's wrong with Iruka? Will Kakashi save him in time? And how long will Pakkun remain awol? The answer to these questions and more when we update again…whenever that is, I'm lazy heheh…

Mysterious Ninja: I'm never letting you finish these things again….

P.S. Please Read and Review!


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